The cultural turn in the sociology of religion in France

Sociology of Religion, Winter, 2004 by Jean-Paul Willaime

7. The Catholic Church is no longer seen as a threat to the Republican regime. The Republic therefore "finds itself in a position to reintegrate the Church, along with other religious parties, in the public sphere, to the point of offering the Church--in contrast with its former separative tendency--a regulatory function within civil society" (Portier 2003:1). (5)

Jean Bauberot (1990) has defined this evolution as a "a pact for a new laicite," through which laicite defines itself more as a framework regulating the pluralism of worldviews than as a counter-system imposing its control on religion. The process can be described as the secularization of laicite. The politico-patriotic form of civic behavior promoted by the victorious Republic has given way to the politico-ethical civic ideals of a Republic that has become the manager of a pluralist democracy. The spiritual and moral forces present in the country are invited to work together to maintain and to transmit a democratic ethos, and to define ethical codes in various fields (notably in biology and genetics). A "goodtempered separation (between religion and the state)," a "benevolent or positive neutrality (of the state towards religion)" and "a pact for a new laicite" are all expressions that confirm the current evolution towards a form of laicite, which is less aggressive towards religion and which seeks to find a place and a role in society for religious faith. One reason why such an evolution has become possible lies in the effective decline of religious institutions in society.

It is equally clear, however, that the traditional distrust of religion undoubtedly continues in France. In recent years, this distrust and more militant forms of laicite have been reactivated by three things--concerns about cults and the practices of new religious movements, the headscarf affair in schools, and growing evidence of religious extremism in world events. Thus, despite the evolutions I have just described, the role of the state in the management of religions and cultural differences remains distinctive in France.

LAICITE UNDER SIEGE

Micheline Milot (2002), a scholar of laicite in Quebec, rightly insists on the importance of extracting this concept from the context from which it emerged (France) in order to avoid its ideological overtones. According to Milot, laicite describes, "the political direction, as well as legal translation, of the place of religion in civil society and public institutions" (2002:34). (6) Bearing this in mind, France, as other countries in Europe, has been confronted with new challenges. Jean Baudoin and Philippe Portier (2001:13-34), in a rich and stimulating work, distinguish three such challenges all of which have had an effect on the understanding of laicite. The first reflects the growing multiculturalism of French society, which poses the following question: how are we to manage collective life on the principle of loyalty exclusively to the city or the state, when a growing part of that society sees itself in competition with that loyalty? The second challenge relates to the expansion of moral relativism, which in turn questions the republican scheme of political organization (i.e. the acceptance of a common behavioral code which is able to transcend particularisms and surpass individual or group identities). The third challenge lies in a growing awareness of alternative models of church-state relationships in Europe, which are more open to the public expression of religious differences than the French system. To these three challenges, we must add a fourth: the impossibility of state neutrality towards religious groups, who both now and in the past have made very different contributions to civilization, civics and ethics. Hence the need for a thorough reexamination of laicite, bearing in mind the growing importance of religious facts and events and the resources that religious organizations are able to offer to the democratic life of ultramodern societies.