Separation of church and state is one of the institutional pillars of the French Republic. It is established by the law of December 9, 1905, whose first two articles are:

The French Freethinkers (Libre Pensée) and Britain’s National Secular Society have agreed a joint policy proposal on “Religion in Schools”. The policy aims to ensure the complete separation of religion and state in the provision of public education, and makes specific policy recommendations for France and Britain. The complete policy proposal is as follows:

All management boards can benefit from long-range planning sessions, where leaders can step back from day-to-day operations to envision long-term goals and develop the strategy to achieve them. Such planning sessions are often done as part of a “board retreat” far from the office, where leaders are not only able to focus on the “big picture” but also get to know each other better, with time set aside for team building and social activities.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), signed in 1989, has been opened to ratification since November 1989.

This Convention has been ratified by the French Government, but:
1. Formal restrictions have been introduced, on several Articles:
a. On Article 6, in order to avoid any application in France which could reduce the right of women to abortion

On The Wearing of Religious Clothes in Private Life

On the occasion of its National Congress, held in Savoie on August 24 – 26, 2009, the National Federation of Libre Pensee reiterated its principled position regarding institutional secularism and the respect for basic democratic liberties that safeguard the citizen’s private life in this country.

On October 10, 2009, the French National Federation of the Free Thought (FNLP, an IHEU Member Organization) organized a colloquium on the review of the law passed on August 6, 2004 concerning bioethics. At the end of this colloquium, and without renouncing to carry on the reflection of today’s free and fruitful debate, the FNLP insists on recalling that no special morality should curb or guide scientific research towards any other goa but knowledge and the improvement of the conditions of humankind.