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Join Us - Defend Laïcité !
Submitted by admin on 1 December, 2005 - 05:01
The Secular State and the Secular School are under attack on all fronts in France.
While the French law relating to the Separation of Churches and the State prohibits the recognition of any religion by the French Republic, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who already organised the French Islamic Council is putting in place a Commission to modify the 1905 Law to satisfy the demands being made by various religions.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has declared his opposition to any modification of the 1905 Law - because, for him, this law can be violated with impunity and with no need to modify it! This is how the present government is continuing the permanent dialogue between the State and the Catholic Church established by Lionel Jospin in 2002!
This is no longer a regime assuring the Separation of Churches and the State. We are on the way to concluding concordats with all religions!
The proposed European Constitution was rejected in France on 29 May 2005 but anti-secular provisions favouring religions are being put in place silently. The 'crime' of blasphemy is the latest to afflict all of France. The courts now do not allow either parody or criticism of religion.
In violation of institutional neutrality, in 2005, 400 million Euros have been diverted from the state educational budget to fund private catholic schools. Thus, an equivalent of 200,000 school jobs (including social costs) have been stolen from the secular state. In 2002, educational allocation was Euro 105 per public school pupil as against Euro 332 for a pupil from a private school.
Because of the clerical status of the region of Alsace Moselle, thousands of priests, pastors and rabbis are paid out of public funds every month. The Archbishop of Strasbourg is paid Euro 4484 per month, and the President of the Protestant Directoire receives Euro 3150 while the Grand Rabbi of Strasbourg is paid Euro 2916 from public taxes.
In all of France, a clerical and religious regime is being installed under the influence of a Vaticanised Europe.
Whichever be the government, the anti-secular provisions of the Vichy Ré gime (the Laws of 5 February 1941, of 8 April 1942 and of 25 December 1942) continue to be implemented. Amazingly, ministers of today and yesterday speak of "their attachment to Laïcité !".
For safe guarding Laïcité !, there is but one solution: the defence and restoration of the Law of Separation of Churches and State.
That is why more than 3000 well known secular personalities of the French Republic, and 34 associations have supported the initiative of the Comité de Liaison de l'Appel aux Laïques which is calling for a national demonstration
- For the defence and promotion of the 1905 Law
- For the abrogation of the Clerical status of the region of Alsace Moselle
- For respect for the principle "State Funds for the Public School Alone"
- For abrogation of all Anti-Laique Laws
- For a laïcité without qualifications
The French National Association of Freethinkers calls on all secular organisations, democratic associations, trade unions, parties and political groupings to demonstrate collectively on 10 December at Paris for the defence of Laicité .
Saturday 10 December at 14.30 hrs at Place de la République, Paris
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France may be going too far.
France doesn't let Moslem children wear headscarves. I think that is going too far. It imposes secularism on religious people.
Separation of Religions and the State
I think that the Religions (Churches) and the State should always been separated. I also think that, as in every democracy (or so-called), religions should be recognized as human cultural activities -no more-, but if politicians accept religions as part of the state, we'll come back to the middle age. Personnally I am a 49 years old Belgian citizen, based in Chile since 15 years. I did receive a strict education into the Catholic Roman and Apostolic Religion, but with the time I changed totally my point of view. I am and feel like some religion-free "deist" thinker, that is my own spiritual problem, but at a human level, as a convinced humanist, I do seriously think that religions are negative antidemocratic and separative entities. The problem is each day worst. I do think particularly that Catholicism -and Christianism in general- is really dangerous. As other religions, that is a very closed one, but with a great power in the world, politically and monetary. Ratzinger came on the scene with a very high degree of obscure anti-democracy and highly populist speech -well prepared by J.P.II-: return to the powerfull domination of the blind faith (¡more in the religion than in God!) and a great number of very dangerous actions (for example: close relationships with opus-deists, Legionaire of Christ, Provida, and now with the "almost forgotten" Lefebrist sect, etc). On the other hand we have the powerfull WASP group of economically almost right-libertarian and anti-humanist highly dangerous component (obviously helped by Jewish entities).
Curiously, it seems to exist great agreements between both groups. Fighting Muslims and having more power in Orient is a jucy idea for both of them, as we know. The other religious groups are too much different to judge them the same way: Hinduism, Buddhism, as well as Taoism/Confucianism, Shintoism are more "open" (and unitarian) philosophies acting as principles for the common life. Perhaps it exists a more serious problem with Muslims, but I think it is coming from a very little branch... and that they are used as the "great deamon" by occidental religions for them to play with fear and divisionism. (Are they really acting against Occident? The question remains open).
Now, why do we have to pay something to religious people and other sacerdotalism followers when they are so rich? It is absolutely absurd, and there are other urgent problems in the world... Why not to pay the sects too? In this way of thinking they have all the same rights if they do not apply coercion, that is just a question of number. By the way, we could recognize Christian "brain manipulations" is a kind of coercion... as they sometimes do with Muslims because of certain sentences of the Quran.
Well, France is losing one of its best quality just for a question of politics. Poor decadent Europe... Look at South America, you'll see the effects of retrograde and highly conservative "religious-states". It is more important than never to defend people against those dangerous concordats. That has nothing to see with open-minded clean position and religious beliefs, only with the big danger of clerical authority as a poison for human freedom and free-thinking.