The Preamble to the constitution of 1958 reaffirms the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789 which acknowledges universal human equality and forbids discrimination on the basis of opinion. The constitution declares France to be a secular state with separation of church and state and declares that "all citizens shall be equal before the law, without distinction of origin, race, or religion." (Article 77).
Private schools, including religious schools, are subsidized by the state. Central or local governments own and maintain many religious properties which were constructed before 1905, the date of the law separating church and state. In three departments of Alsace and Lorraine, the Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed churches enjoy a special legal status whereby adherents of these faiths may choose to have a portion of their income tax payments allocated to their church.
In recent years, French society has experienced a rising tide of xenophobia and racism, exemplified in the increasing popularity of the National Front which has caused concern amongst human rights activists. Rising anti-Semitism has expressed itself in anti-Semitic literature and revisionist historical writing concerning the Holocaust. It has also manifested in scores of hate crimes, including the hurling of a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in Argenteuil in February 1997. In December 1996, in a celebrated case, Brigitte Bardot, whose husband was an aid to M. Le Pen, was taken to court. She was charged with incitement to racial discrimination and hatred for writing that Muslims were polluting French society. She was cleared of all charges in January 1997.
In early March 2004, the French legislature passed a controversial bill banning certain religious attire in state schools. In line with recommendations from a committee set up by President Jacques Chirac, the law prohibits Muslim headscarves, Jewish skull caps, large Christian crosses and other conspicuous religious ornamentation. The ban could possibly apply to beards and bandanas considered religious in nature. The measure has been widely criticized by Muslim, Jewish, and Catholic leaders both in France and internationally. While the bill enjoyed wide support amongst the general population, thousands of people have protested its passage in Paris and other cities.
An atmosphere of hostility has increasingly been directed at new and small religious movements. The government and the media have both assumed a hostile stance toward "sects." In 1996, A Parliamentary Commission on Sects, charged with assessing potential dangers to French society posed by religious sects outside of the mainstream, issued a report identifying 172 groups as sects. This report was followed by a negative article in Le Monde declaring that "something must be done about sects." Shortly after this, the Unification Church headquarters in Paris was firebombed.
The Vice President of the Commission on Sects stated that sects can be identified by certain characteristics, including mental manipulation of members, especially as pertains to matters of money and sex, and cultivation of an anti-social mentality that leads to rupture with the family. The commission cited the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have been active in France since the 1890's, as a "criminal sect" because of its prohibition of blood transfusions.
On February 29, 1996, the Ministry of Justice sent out a Circular to all State Prosecutors asking them to more stringently apply laws against sects. On May 9, 1996, Prime Minister Alain Juppe established by decree the Interministerial Observatory on Sects to observe and analyze the "sects" and to recommend effective means to combat them. This commission excluded scholars and relied almost exclusively for its information on members of the "anticult" movement. They released a report in June of 1998 further confirming the danger of a select number of new and small religious movements, recommending their own dissolution and the appointment of a task force to fight sects.
As the Internministerial Observatory on Sects was meeting, the government had been proceeding with a series of training sessions for police, magistrates, and teachers to indoctrinate them in anti-cult propaganda. On October 7, 1998, following the report the report of the Observatory, the President and Prime Minister together signed a decree establishing the Interministerial Mission for the Struggle Against Sects (Mission Interministeriale de Lutte Contre les Sects). This Commission is chaired by the leader of an anticult organization, M. Alain Vivien.
According to a report by Willy Fautre of Human Rights Without Frontiers:
Anticult movements are now officially carrying out the anticult policy decided by the government and the have started their war against "cults." Inquiry commissions on the fiscal, financial and patrimonial situation of cults and a commission on compulsary education of home-schooled children whose parents are in a sect have already been set up. The French Minister of Justice has ordered the magistrates to cooperate with the Interministerial Mission. The Minister of Education is hunting teachers who belong to one of 172 cults. An hysterical anticult climate feuled by the media and the anticult movements is currently developing throughout civil society in France.
On May 30, 2001, the National Assembly passed an anti-sect bill entitled: "A bill directed to the reinforcement of prevention and repression of cultic movements which undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms." The bill was signed into law on June 14, 2001.
Among other provisions, the bill empowers a court to dissolve the legal personality of a so-called "sect," thereby preventing it from owning or renting property, publishing its teachings, renting public places for religious services or meetings, operating schools or seminaries, and other activities essential to religious practice, worship and observance. The bill also stipulates that a person who attempts the "open or disguised maintenance or revival" of a dissolved sect "shall be punished by three years imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 francs." Section 6 of this legislation creates a new crime, "the fraudulent abuse of… a person in a state of psychological or physical subjection resulting from… techniques likely to alter his judgment..."
The combined effect of hostile government action, negative sensationalist press, and a growing xenophobic sentiment in segments of the population has created an atmosphere in which it is very difficult for small and new religions to function. For instance, police routinely monitor the activities of the Unification Church and have intervened to prevent the church from renting facilities or holding meetings. One teacher was fired merely because he was receiving E-mail from an Internet list-server related to the Unification Church. Unification Church members have reported that it is difficult for them to find jobs or rent space.
The 2001 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report on France details a number of instances of difficulties faced by the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Association of the Triumphant Vajra.
For more information:
2003 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report on France
2002 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report on France
2001 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report on France
Christian Persecution in France International Christian Concern
France tries to soften local style of Islam WorldWide Religious News 5/06/04
French prosecutor refuses to reopen probe into Solar Temple cult deaths WorldWide Religious News 3/26/04
French pass ban on headscarves The Age 3/04/04
WESTERN EUROPE: Headscarves, religion & the state: the reality of European commitment to human rights for all WorldWide Religious News 3/17/04
French religious symbol ban draws widespread Australian Broadcast News
An Open Letter to the President of France concerning "A bill directed to the reinforcement of prevention and repression of cultic movements which undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms." (passed by the French legislature May 30, 2001)
Coordination
of Associations and People for Freedom of Conscience
With a petition concerning the 2001 French anti-sect law
The
State vs Religion in France
Presentation by Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch, President of the Church of
Scientology International
to the Discussion in Congress held by The Institute on Religion and Public
Policy, July 13, 2000
New
Legislation Threatens Religious Liberty in France
Statement of Bruce Casino, Esq., President, International Coalition for
Religious Freedom, to the Capitol Hill Briefing Sponsored by The Institute on
Religion and Public Policy, July 13, 2000
Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief Report on France
Search Amazon.com for books on religious freedom in France