The French Model: Tensions Between Laïc and Religious Allegiances in French State and Catholic Schools.

International audienceThe educational system in France neither proscribes nor promotes religious education. Religious education in the French state system appears to play a marginal role in state education as a consequence of the progressive secularisation of France. Butis the situation any different in French private denominational schools? Logically, it should be.With the 31 December 1959 Act1on academic freedom, the French State integrated Catholic schools into the ‘public service teaching mission’ (‘mission de service public’) while acknowledging their ‘distinctive character’ (‘caractère propre’). In so doing, the State guaranteed the exercise of academic freedom by allowing children from religious families to receive a religious education as part of their schooling. However, the religious ethos of Catholic schools, their ‘distinctive character’, despite being acknowledged in the law, has become diluted

FRENCH RELIGIOUS GEOGRAPHY AND POLITICAL CHANGES SINCE THE 2010s: VOTE HYPOTHESIS BASED ON FOURQUET-LEBRAS 2014 REPORT

.From the beginning of the 20th century to François Mitterrand’s presidential elections, French political geography seems to have opposed Catholic territories and de-Christianized territories. This correlation – territories of high Catholic practice and right-wing voter turnout- was blurred from the 1980s, largely because Catholic faith practices collapsed, and Catholic membership sharply declined. A new religious map has emerged: the non-affiliated (people declaring themselves as non-religious) have significantly increased since the 1970s, reaching 40%. This population is present across the whole territory, with some large areas where they are the majority, in formerly social-republican or communist enclaves. The Muslim population, coming since the sixties and even before from the late French colonial Empire, rose from statistical non-existence to a relatively large size (estimated between 5 to 11%). Muslims are concentrated in non-Catholic or less Catholic territories. Other religions, which cumulate 4% to 5% of the population, are differently distributed. With such a religious change, added to the deep secularization process of the Catholic French population, it seems obviously difficult to find the same correspondence between religious geography and French political orientations, as it was still possible during the 1970s. The aim of this small presentation, using the very stimulating research done by Jérôme FOURQUET and Hervé LE BRAS in 2014, will be to measure how far – according to their new maps- electoral geography retain a memory of the French religious-political past and whether they show us some current level of correlation between recent votes and present religions in France

INTERNATIONAL TUG OF WAR OVER THE DEFAMATION OF RELIGION (1999-2009)

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THE FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE iN THE FRENCH LAW

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Papal Thought on Europe and the European Union in the Twentieth Century

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Catholic Colonization of the American Right: Historical Overview

International audienceCatholic background, in the ideological building of the contemporary American right, seems to be a secondary issue in the history of the conservative movement. However, with very fine studies in recent years on the right-wing tendency of Catholic population or on the long lasting relationship between Catholics and political life, this peculiar aspect of the American right was recognized by George Nash; it gave rise to some enlightening analyses from John Diggins, Michael Miles, John Judis or Melvin Thorne3; it offered a unique and substantial matter to Patrick Allitt, from the Thirties to the Seventies. Then, the Eighties opened a new era for the Republican Party, which receives more frequently the Catholic vote, while the Republican political staff began to be ‘catholicized’ – without ever been a majority in the Party- with some great national figures, often converted but not only, and presenting themselves as orthodox or devoted Catholics in their political and confessional display. Things have changed since the Sixties, characterized by an antithetical “Kennedy‘s model” with its Catholic voters, loyal to the Democratic Party

Debating the Religious Right’s Trump Endorsement and Gender: Macho Descriptive Identity or Substantive Pragmatism?

International audienceIt is late 2015 and GOP nominees are carving up the conservative electorate in hopes of consolidating a base significant enough to win the ticket - the climate is not entirely unlike the late 19th century Scramble for Africa. One thing is certain, in recent years garnering the coveted Evangelical vote (which, incidentally, generally encompasses not only Evangelicals, but also conservative Catholics) has been indispensable to the winning the Republican nomination. Though Trump now enjoys the unwavering support of religious conservatives, it is important to note the significant shift in support between April and September 2015, when religious conservatives dawned their MAGA caps and joined the Trump bandwagon, so to speak

LA LIBERTE RELIGIEUSE : COMPARAISON FRANCO-AMERICAINE

International audienceLes provisions constitutionnelles de la liberté religieuse dans le couple franco-américain semblent être les plus ressemblantes au monde tout à la fois dans leur caractère lapidaire et dans leur conséquences les plus pratiques, avec toutefois cette grande différence de départ que la Constitution des Etats-Unis est toujours la même depuis sa fabrication, quand notre Constitution française est la dernière d'une longue série, entrecoupée de régimes monarchiques et impériaux et trahissant une histoire plus fréquemment contrariée dans ses fondements que l'histoire américaine Mon propos insistera donc sur cette ressemblance formelle pour montrer combien, à mon avis, les termes et le contenu pratique de la liberté religieuse dans ces deux pays sont proches, et le sont aussi pour des raisons fondamentales de proximité « idéologique » libérale. Mais cette insistance sera brève ; En effet, ce qui est fascinant dans la comparaison des deux modèles, reste leur sous-bassement culturel si prégnant, qui conditionne, à la fois la bonne d'un côté et la mauvaise de l'autre, fortune symbolique de la liberté religieuse dans ces deux pays, ET la perpétuelle tension politique que cette fortune engendre ou provoque. Ma comparaison sera alors guidée par cette forme de symétrie opposée et presque parfaite dans l'usage et la place de la liberté religieuse, qui existe entre nos deux pays et leur donne ainsi une identité spécifique, à la fois remarquable et pleine de défauts

Newt Gingrich ou la figure du conservateur américain converti au catholicisme

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De la tolérance à l'interdit, les univers religieux face à la violence faite aux femmes

International audienceParle en quelques minutes d’une thématique pareille est une gageure pénible. Je vais donc me limiter à quelques pistes très simples et «enfoncer des portes ouvertes». J’aurais un fil conducteur, également très simple pour développer ces idées, qui est celui de la transposition, de la conformation probable des comportements sociaux aux univers spirituels qui ont animé ou animent les sociétés, et sont peu ou prou véhiculés par les personnes qui la composent