Church, State, and Religious Education: Explaining Different Shifts in Europe

Leni Franken is a senior researcher and teacher assistant at the University of Antwerp (Belgium)

This text is a summary of a recent article entitled “Church, State and RE in Europe: Past, Present and Future”, published in Religion & Education

Until the 1970s, Religious Education (RE) in Europe was mainly organized in a denominational and confessional way and aimed at religious socialization in one religious (Christian) tradition. For a long time, this model of mono-confessional RE was not disputed: even though non-Christian religions (for instance Judaism, Islam, and several Eastern traditions) and atheism had some presence in Europe before the 1960s, the majority of citizens belonged to a Christian denomination, and it was the norm to have Christian RE at school.

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

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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Individualization of Religious Beliefs, Secularization and Religion-State Relations

A growing trend of religious life in contemporary Western societies is the number of religiously unaffiliated people (also known as “nones”). Some of them believe in nothing, but many others shape religious beliefs with their own, individual understanding of God, the world, and their place in it. They may have specific convictions of what their religion requires or can believe in dogmas of different religions simultaneously, practice spiritual meditation, or sacralize cultural phenomena or ideological concepts.

From a philosophical perspective, the individualization of religion challenges a wide-spread understanding of organized religion (where believers worship God in communion) as the main form of spiritual life. From a law and religion perspective, the questions are how the state should deal with such individualized religious beliefs. Should they be protected under the premises of religious freedom? How will individualization affect religion-state relations?

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