Secularism and French Religious Liberty: A Sociological and Historical View

I. INTRODUCTION1 As a sociologist and historian, I would like to offer some hypotheses about the social and historical context in which French legislation and its application interrelates so conspicuously. I want to emphasize the word "conspicuously." The French speak willingly of the "French exception," and it is true that the French system of secularism has peculiar or unique traits. Current French policy toward new religious movements, referred to as "sects," has confirmed the view held in other countries, especially the United States, that the French are peculiar in this regard. This view is not entirely incorrect, but it must be qualified and placed in context; the characteristics shared by France and other societies, especially European and North American societies, are truly numerous. These common characteristics form a global framework within which each country reacts somewhat differently based on its own history and current situation. For several decades, sociologists have classified the global context just described as "secularization." The accuracy of this classification is currently an issue of debate, and the debate is of general interest because it implicates issues such as freedom of belief. I will first discuss different historical perceptions of secularization and then give my own view of the present situation. Finally, I will identify, in this context, the characteristics that are truly unique to the French situation. II. DISCUSSION A. Different Perceptions of Secularization 1. Original sense of the word The development of the term "secularization" can be broken down into four stages. To understand the first stage, one must remember the original sense of the word. Secularization originally dealt with the appropriation of ecclesiastical goods by the civil state; one example is the transfer of property carried out during the Protestant Reformation in the Germanic Empire.2 Another example is the nationalization and sale of the property of the Catholic Church as "national goods" during the French Revolution.3 However, in the language of the Catholic Church, secularization has also signified the passage of a cleric, who is supposed to live outside the "siecle" (or world),4 in the "secular state," or life "in the world." In this way, one distinguishes the "regular priests" who are monks from the "secular priests" who are in charge of a parish. 2. Max Weber's analysis The second stage of secularization is characterized by Max Weber's analyses of human sciences, developed at the beginning of the twentieth century. These analyses gave rise to secularization theories even though the German sociologist wrote principally of the "disillusionment" [Entzauberung]5 of the world. This "disillusionment" began, according to Weber, with the Hebrew prophets and the Greek philosophy. Disillusionment was further achieved by Protestantism because it "reject[ed] magic means of achieving salvation like so many superstitions and sacrileges."6 The disillusionment of the world was thus carried out in the name of religious principles. However, disillusionment contributed to the emergence of a new phenomenon, industrial capitalism. According to Weber's fundamental principle, a "paradox of outcomes," this capitalism progressively pulls away from religion; the sector of industrial production develops on a mechanical basis, favoring an instrumental rationality.7 3. Sociological theories of the late twentieth century The third stage of secularization is described by sociological theories formulated in the third quarter of the twentieth century. According to Peter Berger, secularization is "the process by which the sectors of society and culture are freed from the authority of religious institutions and symbols."8 Bryan Wilson points out that a society becomes secularized when there is: (1) a decrease in the portion of wealth devoted to the "supernatural"; (2) an increased independence of social behaviors from religion, linked to the idea that social practices change living conditions; and (3) an increasing justification of institutions functioning with little or no tie to religion. …