Menu Close

Articles on French secularism

Displaying 1 - 20 of 21 articles

An homage to Samuel Paty, a teacher murdered after showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Oct. 18, 2020. Adnan Farzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Beheading in France could bolster president’s claim that Islam is in ‘crisis’ – but so is French secularism

Macron wants to ‘build an Islam in France that can be compatible with the Enlightenment.’ But that goal assumes France is compatible with Islam, says a Muslim scholar of religion and politics.
People hold up signs as they march during a demonstration in Montreal, April 7, 2019, in opposition to the Quebec government’s newly tabled Bill 21. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Clashing rights: Behind the Québec hijab debate

The proposed secular law (Bill 21) in the province of Québec appears to be directed primarily against Montreal and Québec City, and reflects a fear of strangers in Québec’s more homogeneous regions.
Quebec Premier François Legault stands in front of the crucifix in the provincial legislature where he announced the religious symbol will be removed. Québec is both the most homogeneous province from a religious point of view and the most detached from its religious culture. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Secularism: Québecers are religious about it

Many Canadians are puzzled by Québec’s law banning some civil servants from wearing religious symbols. A Québec sociologist explains the law is rooted in the province’s troubled history with religion.
Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault on the campaign trail last September before the election that saw his party form a majority government. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Québec’s push to ban the hijab is ‘sexularism’

The Québec government’s push to ban the hijab is ‘sexularism’ and also basic nationalism – one that pits an ‘us’ against ‘them,’ where the ‘them’ represent multiple threats to the nation.
‘I am a migrant’ solidarity signs were displayed during the European Parliament debate on immigration and asylum in the Strasbourg plenary. European Parliament/flickr

Crimes of solidarity: liberté, égalité and France’s crisis of fraternité

Fraternity is one of the three pillars of the French Republic, but social solidarity is fraying as citizens are criminalised for acting on their beliefs in the human rights of asylum seekers.
Charles Platiau

Debate: On secularism in the 21st century

While France and the US both guarantee individual religious freedom, the two nations’ approach to religion in the public sphere and the separation between church and state are profoundly different.
The director of the Paris mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, in the front line Stephane Mahe/Reuters

The cycle of anti-Muslim discrimination in France is likely to worsen

Muslims in France and the French host population are locked in a discriminatory equilibrium. This is the conclusion, summarized in our soon-to-be published book, of a six-year research program that investigates…

Top contributors

More