The cultural turn in the sociology of religion in France

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

Faced with a growing religious pluralism, itself accentuated by the twin pressures of globalization and individualization, the French state has flexed its old muscles, reacting with heightened distrust to something which limits the prerogatives of the state and the allegiance that the state demands of the individual. France is unable to accept fully forms of cultural pluralism that are, or appear to be tied to a foreign culture, or forms of religion that refuse to confine themselves to the private sphere or to the domain of worship. Underneath the debate about sects lies an intolerance of anyone who has chosen to live differently in the name of a religious ideal and educate their children accordingly. In France--for the reasons that we have already explained--the tolerance of non-conformity weakens as soon as the religious dimension is present.

Even more significant are the reactions to Islam. It is important to remember that France has both the largest Muslim population in Europe and the largest Jewish community. As a result, the repercussions of conflicts in the Middle East are stronger in France than in other countries (prompting conflicts between Muslim and Jewish students in schools, and renewed outbreaks of anti-Semitism). Opinions in this respect are reinforced by acts of violence committed in the name of Islam around the world and by reports of intransigent behavior in France, for example the refusal by husbands or fathers to allow their wives or daughters to be taken care of or delivered by male physicians. Hence the re-emergence of both anticlericalism and laicisme, encouraged by anti-Islamic sentiments that exaggerate the intolerance of many Muslims. Wearing the veil becomes, in this mindset, the symbol of clerical influence, the alienation of the female, and the justification for a new mobilization of laicite as a fundamental value of the French Republic.

The new law (passed in 2004) prohibiting the wearing of all conspicuous, religious signs in school, including large crosses, kippas and headscarves, exemplifies this tendency (the government being fully aware that it was not possible to apply the law only to symbols of Islam). Interestingly, the Commission de reflexion sur l'application du principe de laicite dans la Republique (see above) also recommended the inclusion of the religious holidays of Kippur and l'Aid-El-Kebir in the school calendar. Only the negative measure prohibiting conspicuous religious signs in schools was retained, however, demonstrating that in France there is a marked tendency to manage religion by limiting it, rather than by recognizing it. In this situation, the headscarf has become a catalyst. (9) Opinions are increasingly polarized, reinforced by the criticisms of feminists who denounce the veil as an attack on the equality of the sexes in the name of religion. The situation is however extremely complex: whilst it is true that many young girls wear the headscarf because of family pressures or because of extremist Muslim organizations, many others wear it as an affirmation of liberty and to demonstrate their personal autonomy. No longer is this a question of an inherited or imposed religion, it is instead a religion chosen and freely assumed. Or to put the same point a different way, religion becomes a claimed identity allowing individuals to assert themselves as autonomous subjects in a plural society.