Guest Post Archives - Page 71 of 108 - Talk About: Law and Religion

Strengthening Respect for the Principles of the Republic? How French President Emmanuel Macron’s Bill to Stem Islamist Separatism Jeopardizes Religious Freedom

Post published:February 16, 2021

Alexis Artaud de La Ferrière is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Portsmouth and Associate Researcher at the Groupe Sociétés Religions Laïcités (EPHE/CNRS) in Paris

Blandine Chelini-Pont is a full Professor in Contemporary and International History at the School of Law and Political Sciences of Aix-Marseille University

The French Parliament is currently debating a bill tabled by the majority which threatens to fundamentally change the balance of Church-State relations in that country. The “bill to strengthen respect for the principles of the Republic” (widely known as the bill against separatism) is presented by the government as a key element of President Emmanuel Macron’s strategy to counter “the insidious but powerful communitarianism that is slowly eroding the foundations of French society”—namely, radical Islamism.

While some civil society actors have expressed their support for this bill, others warn that it will usher in unprecedented limits to the freedoms of association and religion. So, what should we make of this bill? If it is to pass (which is likely), will it strengthen the Republic against Islamist inspired “separatism”? Or does this legislative hammer risk breaking the common table of laïcité?

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Sisters and Brothers, Welcome Home

Post published:February 14, 2021

Greg Marcar is the Harold Turner Research Fellow at the Center for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago

Introduction

Since the end of World War II, 149 States have committed themselves to recognising the rights of those fleeing persecution to refuge under the United Nation’s 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol. In recent years, these commitments have been tested by some of the worst refugee crises since the crime against humanity that gave rise to the 1951 Convention. At present, however, many States have suspended their refugee resettlement programs, with no clear indication as to when these programs will resume. In this piece, I would like to explore how a Christian understanding of the world and human beings lends itself to a more expansive, inclusive, and hopeful refugee policy.

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Secularization Is (Also) Individualization

Post published:January 12, 2021

Paolo Costa is a researcher at the Center for Religious Sciences of Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trento, Italy

What is “secularization”?

The term sounds familiar enough. But can we assume that everybody knows what it is about?

Its field of application is, at least on the face of it, within everyone’s reach. Who does not have an opinion on the fate of religion today? In a range of positions going from the lamentations of those who day-in-day-out complain that “nothing is sacred anymore” to the dismay of those who do not understand how obscurantism and superstition have not yet disappeared from the face of the earth, the opinion niches where people can comfortably curl up are numerous and well known.

At the same time, however, it seems hazardous to presume that the word has been incorporated into everyday language. It is an easily verifiable fact that, if requested, many struggle to explain what exactly “secularization” is, displaying an indecision that does not seem to affect semantically contiguous terms such as secularism or de-Christianization.

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