Filozofija i drustvo 2014 Volume 25, Issue 2, Pages: 94-114
https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1402094M
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The French state and the church: Socio-historical context, structural conditionality and character of laicism
Mladenović Ivica (Filozofski fakultet, Odeljenje za sociologiju, Beograd)
In the article, the author deals with the political and social influences of
the relationship between the state and religious communities in France. The
first part of the paper is an analysis of historical context and the
construction (evolution) of laicism in France through its local
characteristics, values and social strengths, contributing to its formation.
The fact that Catholic Church was one of the main legitimizing pillars of
„the old regime“, permanently determined the relationship between church and
state, most importantly - it’s subsequent social exclusion under the
Republic. The 1789 French revolution in conjunction with the 1905 law on the
Separation of church and state, up until present time, have been seen as the
most important events in defining the relationship between political and
religious entities in France. The second part of the paper continues in
outlining the founding logic and principles of the contemporary relationship
between religious communities and the French state. The article concludes in
suggesting that through its persistence of a purely Laicistic model of
state-church affiliation, view of the nation as a community of citizens,
Weberian definition of the State, and the acceptance of the public sphere as
common space in which communal interests are negated, France today represents
an isolated island on the European continent.
Keywords: France, laicism, secularism, republic, nation, state, church, religion, separation