France’s Long March from State Religion to Secular State

Abstract

This chapter traces the development of secularization in France beginning in the sixteenth century with the Protestant Reformation. Prior to this time, the Ancien Régime was characterized by the union of Church and State with Roman Catholicism of the state religion. The French word for this secularizing process is laïcité which presents a specificity that arises from France’s unique societal context. The changed relationship between Church and State, beginning with the Reformation under Luther and Calvin, led to the Wars of Religion which were ended by the Edict of Nantes in 1598 under Henry IV. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes under Louis XIV in 1685 reestablished the union of the throne and altar which resulted in persecution of the Huguenots. The French Revolution in 1789 produced a break with organized and obligatory religion. Under Napoleon in 1801, the Concordat with the Vatican recognized Roman Catholicism as the religion of the majority of the French and provided legal protection for Protestantism. Until its abrogation in 1905 the Concordat regulated relations between the Church and the State. The Law of Separation of Churches and State was enacted in 1905 in fulfillment of the French Revolution’s attempt to remove the Roman Catholic Church from her privileged position. The law ended centuries of religious turmoil, declared state neutrality in religious matters, and settled chaotic historical relationships which had led to violent wars. The emergence of Islam as the second largest religion in France has reignited the debate and dissension on the relationship between Church and State. The question at the turn of the twentieth century concerned the Roman Catholic Church’s compatibility with democracy. That same question is being asked of Islam in the twenty-first century.