Chapter Introduction The complexity of the French principle of Laïcité

• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2022
• Subjects: Civil rights & citizenship; Human rights; Political science & theory; Religious groups: social & cultural aspects; Social & political philosophy; Society & culture: general; Laicity; laïcité; Fench Republic; secularism; Fremch Secularism; Religion in France; political secularism; Catholicism; Islam; French Catholicism; secularism; separation of Church and State; religion and politics
• Online Access: Open Access: DOAB: description of the publication; Open Access: DOAB, download the publication
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (11 p.)
• ISBN: 9781003178675-1; 9781032003436; 9781032014586
• Access: Open Access

This volume examines the perception of the French principle of laïcité or secularism and attempts to demonstrate to English-speaking readers that the configurations of the French model of laïcité are both more flexible and complex than they appear to be. Due to the diversification of France's religious landscape (notably with a Muslim minority estimated at 7% of the population) and some of the effects of Europeanisation, French secularism is being urged to shed its anti-religious tendencies and abandon a version of secularism conceived as an alternative to religion. The French Republic is not a secularist state but a secular state where secularism is conceived as a founding principle of pluralistic democracies.