After the defeat of France in June 1940, a puppet regime of the Third Reich was installed in Vichy with Marshall Pétain as head of state. After the Second World War Marshall Pétain was given the death sentence for his collaboration with the Nazis, but this was commuted to life imprisonment. Much of the destruction wrought on French laicité during the Vichy regime remains on French statute books even today. Christian Eyschen writes about the constant attempts to undermine and destroy the spirit of the 1905 law since the time of the Vichy Regime.

Right from the beginning, Marshall Petain, in concert with the Catholic Church, attacked the laicité of the School and that of the State. Extraordinary legislative measures were introduced between 1940 and 1944, and their essence is still maintained on the statute books. Here is how the intentions of the 1905 law have been subverted:

The Vichy Regime

• 15 July 1940: Cardinals write to Pétain to reintroduce teaching of religion in Public Schools.
• October 1940: The prestigious Ecoles Normales, established in 1794 after the French Revolution, are abolished.
• 6 December 1940: The French State decides that "Duties towards God" should be taught in Public Schools.
• 6 January 1941: The optional teaching of religion is introduced in Public Schools.
• February 1941: Religious buildings are restored to the Church by the Pétain regime, undoing the work of the 3rd Republic and the provisions of the 1905 law: amongst the properties returned are the caves of Lourdes. This remains on the statute books even after the Liberation of France - enabling the Church to once again became a real estate power.
• 1941: The archbishops write to Pétain, asking for a new concordat with the Vatican.
• 2 November 1941: A law is promulgated, allowing private Catholic schools to be subsidised by public funds. Later, Public School budgets are allowed to finance private schools.
• 8 April 1942: The July 1904 law on Congregations is abrogated and they are allowed back. Even after the Libertion of France, the 1904 law remains abrogated.
• 25 December 1942: Catholic cultural associations are accorded civil and testamentary rights. The 1905 law prohibited prelates from visiting and extracting donations from dying persons, but this is changed and Catholic cultural associations are now allowed to receive donations. This Pétainist law is not abrogated even after the Liberation of France. Today, when the Catholic Church receives the legacy of an adherent, it is as per the provisions of a Vichy law.
• 3 January 1943: A law renders communes responsible for the maintenance costs of churches. While this law was abrogated at the time of the Liberation, easy ways around it have been found since.

The Vth Republic in the service of the Church

The core of the anti-secular laws of Marshall Pétain remain even after the Liberation. No government and no party in power has had the courage - or even the will - to end the clerical heritage of Vichy. On the contrary, the governments of the Vth Republic increased the facilities accorded to the Catholic Church.

The 1905 law had barred religions from becoming real estate holders, or from becoming fiancial power houses. Like Marshall Pétain, General de Gaule too did away with this prohibition.

In 1987, the Canard Enchaà®né published a dossier on the financial power of the Catholic Church. It demonstrated, without ever being contradicted, that in the Golden corridor (5th, 6th and 7th arondissement of Paris) alone, the Catholic Church owned property worth a billion francs. A century after the 1905 law, the Church has made a come back!

In 1987, the Loi Coluche was introduced. It aimed to give tax benefits to those who finance charitable organisations - donations to associations which help the poor should be encouraged, considering the lacunae in public services. It is a simple idea, but the intentions were always suspect.

The Catholic lobby soon acted to take advantage: Catholic charities were enrolled in the list of associations which will benefit from these measures. In addition, they got even the "le denier du culte" enrolled. This association however has only one objective, which is that of enabling the Catholic religion to flourish.

The consequences are simple: in 1987, someone who paid 100 French Francs as dues to the 'denier du culte' obtained a 40% reduction in his tax payable. At the same time, the membership dues of trade unions were tax deductible only at 25%. Where is the equality of all citizens as regards payment of taxes? None, either from the right or the left, has something to say about this. In 1993, the government raised this tax exemption to 50%. Today it is 60% of the donation.

The indirect financing of the Churches has been achieved through a fiscal measure which is detrimental to the equal status of all citizens, The 1905 law which prohibited direct or indirect financing of religions has been completely subverted! It is the same politicians who enabled this who, hand on heart, are swearing their loyalty to the 1905 law which "needs to be fine-tuned!"

The Public School: Target of the Anti-secular offensive

Be it the Marie-Barange law of the IV Republic or the laws proposed by Debré, Guermeur, Chevènement, Lang and Bayrou, the aim of the clerics is increasing public financing of private education, which is 90% Catholic. Today the financing of private education is equivalent to the cost of maintaining 200 000 jobs (social costs included). This is what is being stolen from the Public School budget to finance directly its competitor, essentially the Catholic school.

Worse still, from the Haby law to the Jospin law, to the detriment of the Public School, it is the model of the private school which is being promoted - with its own peculiarities and interferences from parents, elected representatives, business enterprises, religions etc.

It was left to Jack Lang, supported by recommendations in a report by Regis Debray, to put into action the programme of Marshall Pétain: to teach religion in the Public School. Luc Ferry and Franà§ois Fillon had only to tread on the path created by the accomplices of Vichy and of Brussels.

Christian Eyschen
Translation by Babu Gogineni