Defending the 1905 French Law of Separation of Religion and State International Humanist News The 16th World Humanist Congress was held in Paris in July 2005 on the theme of Separation of Religion and State Commemorating the centenary of the 1905 French law which established such a separation the World Congress passed an important declaration which has been published in the International Humanist News of August 2005 The 1905 law establishes laicit or the institutional Separation of Church and State a defining characteristic of the French republic Of seminal importance in the ongoing and permanent battle for the freedom of conscience Laicit is under attack today Roger Lepeix writes of the dangers and of the spectacular efforts by French Freethinkers to save a valuable institutional arrangement