The issue of the separation of religion and the State is not a typically French issue. The struggle for the respect of absolute freedom of conscience is an international struggle which was fought, is being fought and will be fought for a long time on all the continents and in all the countries.

History clearly proves it. The first separation of religion and the State was proclaimed in the United States of America in 1789, the second separation was in Mexico in 1859, the third was in France in 1905, after two unsuccessful attempts in 1795 and during the Paris Commune in 1871, the fourth was in Soviet Russia in 1918 and the fifth was in Turkey by Mustapha Kemal in 1937.

The separation of religion and the State is the universal answer to the democratic aspiration of the peoples and nations to govern themselves without any so-called "divine authority" to come and justify the upholding of economical, cultural and political oppression. For all religions, revolt against social oppression is tantamount to revolt against God's will and ecclesiastical interests.

Thus, as Monsieur Nicolas Sarkozy is the President of the European Union until December 31, 2008, we submit the following proposal to all the organisations attending this international rally: Could we all together have an interview with him and ask what he intends to do to promote secularism in Europe, spread the absolute freedom of conscience and propose to establish the necessary separation of religion and the State in all the countries?

As for the National Federation of the Freethought, we completely endorse the Working Resolution of the International Liaison Committee of Atheists and Free Thinkers (ILCAF) adopted in the USA in June 2008 which raises the following questions: "Is the struggle for the separation of religion and the State only limited to a struggle for Atheists and Free Thinkers to get the same antidemocratic privileges as the Churches or is it the affirmation of equal rights and duties and for the abolition of any religious rule?"

Closing address given by Christian Eyschen, General Secretary, Libre Pensée, at the secularist rally in France on the occasion of the Pope’s visit on 14 September, 2008