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Degree

MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies, 2012.

Abstract

The concept of laïcité in France, equated by recent political rhetoric with the separation of the institutions of Church and State, began in 1905 as a release from the political and economic grip of the Catholic Church. 20th century developments in the Muslim world – outside and inside French borders - caused the French state to reevaluate its relationship with religion, however. Muslim immigration after World War II unexpectedly caused a permanent and highly visible Islamic presence in France. The violence perpetrated by radical Islamic groups became associated in the minds of the French with the Muslims gathered in French cities, and the attire and customs brought to France changed the appearance of the public space, threatening France’s historical view of itself as a homogenous society. With the identity of the Republic called into question, politicians began lobbying for laws excluding Muslim practices from taking place in state institutions and progressed to advocating laws prohibiting any sign of religious belief in one’s capacity as an agent of the state. With every new issue of Muslim dress or custom – the veil in public schools, the burqa, halal meal choices in public schools, and Muslim street prayers - came a renewed effort by the state to enact more legislation to abolish it. At the core of each of these arguments against Muslim rites and traditions was a misinterpreted notion of laïcité. Instead of the separation of the Church from political and economic privilege and power intended and mandated by the law of 1905 and subsequent Constitutions, the French state responded to fears of radical Islamic influence and a general discomfort with religion because of France’s past experiences with Catholicism and declared the mandate of the law of 1905 to be a complete relegation of religious belief and practice to the private space. The result has been a disregard for the laws the state cites as support for their exclusionary policies against Muslims and the construction of a new laïcité conforming to France’s desire to establish the freedom from religion rather than the originally intended freedom of religion.

Subject Headings

Education; Foreign Language; Islamic Studies; Religion

Keywords

freedom of religion; laicite; France and Muslims; Islam in France

Committee / Advisors

Matthew Kemp, PhD (Advisor)
Maryann DeJulio, PhD (Committee Member)
Richard Berrong, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

121p.

Document number: kent1351638370
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1351638370

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