The beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty by a Chechen-born teenager hit France particularly hard and, again, brought to the fore the long-running debate on “French values” and the place of Muslims in the French Republic.

An attack several weeks later on a church in Nice, in which three people were killed, further inflamed tensions in the country. Both incidents appeared to have been inspired by the controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons and occurred amid the trial of fourteen accused accomplices in the attack on the magazine’s offices in 2015. [The fourteen were convicted on various charges after this article was written. —eds.]

Paty’s murder reopened several wounds in a country that had been the victim of a spate of Islamic State–inspired attacks in recent years. Those attacks have left an indelible mark on the fabric of French society and, in addition, ruptured the relationship between Muslims and the French State. In the past eight years, there have been thirty-six incidents in France, the deadliest being the Paris attacks of 2015, which killed 130 in a series of coordinated strikes.[1] It is against this backdrop that each new assault brings familiar questions about the relationship of French Muslims and the State.

The Aftermath

France’s response to the recent spate of attacks has been particularly defiant, with President Emmanuel Macron publicly reaffirming the country’s commitment to its secular values. After the most recent attack in Nice, Macron issued a strong defense of the cartoons and promised that France would not “give up” the caricatures.[2] This followed a speech at the beginning of October 2020 when Macron spoke of the threat from “Islamist separatism.” [For another perspective, see Barry A. Kosmin, “Secular Republics on Alternative Tracks—Vive Macron!,” FI, December 2020/January 2021.] The government has since responded by closing a Paris mosque that was suspected of inciting hatred, as well as expelling 231 suspected foreign extremists, the majority of whom are currently in prison.

Domestically, there was an outpouring of support following Paty’s murder, with rallies and memorial services held around the country. Internationally, Macron’s response provoked demonstrations in several Muslim-majority countries, with at least 50,000 people participating in an anti-France rally in Bangladesh. The response also incited the ire of several Muslim leaders, including Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who, motivated by his own domestic concerns, called for a boycott of French products after describing Macron as having an “anti-Islam” agenda. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s former Prime Minster, Mahathir Mohamad, called for a more violent response, asserting that “Muslims have a right to be angry and kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past.”[3]

The Roots of Laïcité

At its core, the debate centers on France’s unique brand of secularism, known as laïcité, which is one of the country’s political and cultural pillars. The concept of laïcité is central to how France defines itself and internal relations between the State and religion, while ensuring that religious neutrality and freedom of conscience are legally enshrined. The country’s history of religious conflict, and the outsized role of the Roman Catholic Church therein, underlie why there is such an important attachment to the principle and belief that religion should be restricted to the private realm—an approach that is unparalleled elsewhere in Europe.

In 1905, a law separating the Church and the State was introduced officially to counter the influence of the Catholic Church. This law is often considered to be the basis of State secularism. In the past, laïcité maintained a more variable character, allowing for flexibility when it came to the country’s Catholic traditions. For example, many of the country’s public holidays still correspond with Catholic rituals. However, this has been applied with greater rigidity in recent decades, coinciding largely with the emergence of Islam as a social phenomenon. The greater visibility of religious affiliation among minority religions has come into conflict with secularism and its focus on religious neutrality in the public space and with the primacy of the citizen in the Republic, where religion or ethnic affiliation is secondary and not a defining characteristic of membership of the Republic.

Is Secularism Targeting Muslims Unfairly?

Laïcité prevents the State from collecting data on religious or ethnic affiliation, and so the exact number of Muslims in France is unknown. However, estimates put the number at roughly five million, or 10 percent of the population. The growth of Islam has brought with it an increase in the visibility of religion in the public sphere, stoking tensions between Islam and French secular values. There have been several political controversies and debates concerning the wearing of visible religious symbols during the past two decades. In 2004, France banned all “conspicuous” religious symbols in public institutions, and although this also included Sikh turbans and the Jewish skullcap alongside the Muslim headscarf, many believed that it was aimed predominantly at Muslim women and targeted them disproportionately. In 2011, France became the first European country to ban face-covering Muslim veils. This was followed in 2016 by a burkini ban. These overt displays of faith are viewed continually as a threat to the French Republic and the country’s values: former right-wing French President Nicholas Sarkozy described the wearing of a burkini as “a political act” and “a provocation.”[4]

It is against the scenario of several Islamist terror attacks that laïcité has been the subject of an increasingly polarized debate on its application. Many critics charge that this form of secularism is being used as a pretext to justify discrimination against Muslims. The issue is made more complex in a climate in which French Muslims feel increasingly marginalized and disenfranchised: they are represented disproportionately within the prison population, and poverty and unemployment are rampant in France’s banlieues—home to many second- and third-generation Muslim immigrants. These structural inequalities have become intimately connected with any debate on secularism.

Support for a More Rigid Application

However, traditionalists and defenders of laïcité believe the term has been misunderstood and misappropriated. They point, instead, to both its protection of religious minorities and those with no religion, alongside the primacy of the citizen over religious affiliation. This inclusiveness is the very essence of secularism. For supporters, a strict application of secularism is necessary to uphold the Republic’s secular values and ensure that religion is kept in the private sphere, and support for a robust form of secularism extends to most of the population. A 2013 government plan to introduce the teaching of “secular morals” in State schools was supported by 91 percent of the public.[5]

Perhaps significantly, there are also Muslim voices that have openly supported the government’s stance as a bulwark against radical Islamism. Hassen Chalghoumi, the Imam of Drancy mosque, north of Paris, has been outspoken in his support of Muslims practicing a form of Islam compatible with secularism. After Paty’s murder, Chalghoumi championed the importance of secularist values, stating: “We have to teach our youth. That’s the first thing [to do], it is education, that parents teach what secularism means, what freedom means. You can’t murder someone because of a drawing.”[6]

Going forward, France has the option of making concessions and accommodating religion in public life in a more flexible way. However, a continued hardening of tone from President Macron is more likely as he looks ahead to next year’s election in the face of an increasingly resurgent Front National. Meanwhile, the threat from Islamist extremism shows no sign of abating anytime soon.

Notes

1. Staff, “Paris Attacks: What Happened on the Night.” December 9, 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34818994.
2. Staff, “We Will Not Give Up Cartoons: Macron in Homage to Murdered Teacher.” France24, October 21, 2020. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201021-we-will-not-give-up-cartoons-macron-in-homage-to-murdered-teacher.
3. Conrad Duncan, “Muslims Have a Right to ‘Kill Millions of French People’ Over Past Actions, Former Malaysian PM Suggests.” The Independent, October 29, 2020. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/muslims-france-malaysian-pm-mahathir-mohamad-macron-charlie-hebdo-b1424838.html.
4. Alexandra Sims, “Wearing a Burkini Is a ‘Provocation,’ says Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.” The Independent, August 24, 2016. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/wearing-burkini-provocation-says-former-french-president-nicolas-sarkozy-a7208251.html.
5. Staff, “Huge Support in France for Teaching of ‘Secular Morals’ in State Schools.” National Secular Society, April 26, 2013. https://www.secularism.org.uk/write-to-your-mp.html.
6. “France: ‘Secularism Is the Solution,’ Says Imam as Parisians Pay Tribute to Beheaded Teacher.” Ruptly TV, October 18, 2020. https://newsvideo.su/video/13624118.