Question 3288 — secularism

Summary

Ms. Muriel Ressiguier draws the attention of the Minister of Territorial Cohesion to the need to ensure that the law of separation of Church and State is respected and applied by local authorities, on all occasions. Indeed, France has been a secular state since the promulgation of the law of December 9, 1905 “The Republic does not recognize, employ or subsidize any religion” and secularism is a fundamental principle in constitutional value of the Fifth Republic: “France is an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It ensures equality before the law for all citizens without distinction of origin, race or religion.” As a reminder, the law of 1905 organized the exercise of worship within an associative framework and created the status of religious associations, associations in compliance with the law of July 1, 1901 but which must respect additional obligations. These must have the exclusive purpose of exercising worship; they cannot receive subsidies in any form whatsoever from the State or local authorities. Under article 2 of the separation law, religious associations cannot therefore receive any direct or indirect public subsidies. Indeed, the award of a subsidy could be interpreted as the official recognition of a religion, which is excluded by law. Finally, secularism ensures the possibility of defending one's beliefs, as well as that of not having any. The 1905 law on the separation of Churches and State clearly establishes the barrier between personal beliefs (private sphere) and what concerns the institutions of the State and local authorities (public sphere). In Hérault, brochures, emanating from associations called "Religious Tourism - Hérault - South of France" and "Pastoral, Tourism and Leisure - Diocese of Montpellier", invite passing tourists to visit places of worship in order to "arouse a spiritual awakening" and inform them of the schedules of religious services, by displaying the logos of numerous intercommunalities in the department (Béziers Méditerranée, Montpellier Métropole, Thau, Pic Saint Loup, La Domitienne, Grand Orb, land of gold, Hérault Mediterranean conurbation, South Hérault community of communes, community of communes of Clermontais, Mont de Lacaune Montagne du Haut Languedoc, community of commune Avant Monts, Orb/Jaur, Pays de Lunel, Vallée de l'Hérault, Lodévois and Larzac) or 16 out of 22 to be precise. Recently, in its edition of October 22, 2017, the regional daily Midi Libre revealed that the association “Tourisme Religious - Hérault - South of France” had received subsidies from intercommunal authorities, while refusing to indicate the amount. For several years also, an association has organized the promotion of the cult of the said "Saint Roch", accompanied in its work by the city of Montpellier through in particular a delegation from the municipal council intended to promote, a subsidy now amounting to 15,000 euros for the association organizing masses and processions or the issuance of joint advertisements for masses and processions (site, common program). It is up to the State to demand strict respect for secularism and an end to public aid of any kind for the promotion of any religion whatsoever. It is not acceptable for a sort of “non-Republic” territory to be established here or there which, under the pretext of promoting tourism, represent a recognition and promotion of a religion by state institutions, nor even that propaganda in favor of a religion is supported by a public institution, or a community. This is why she calls on him to strictly confirm the ban on public subsidies for religions by local authorities, and asks him to kindly ensure compliance with the 1905 law.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

No documents linked.

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.