Post by Moses on Oct 24, 2005 17:13:33 GMT -5
Like his colleagues in this internatiional conspiracy, Sarkozy seeks to kick out the essential pillar of democracy: separation of church and state:
Church-state divide becomes French campaign issue
Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:16 PM BST
By Tom Heneghan
PARIS (Reuters) - The separation of church and state is shaping up as an early hot-button issue for France's next presidential election as rival politicians begin jockeying for votes among the large Muslim minority.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious interior minister already planning his campaign for the 2007 contest, staked out the issue last week by appointing a commission to study possible changes to the law dividing the spiritual and temporal spheres.
President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin fired back over the weekend, reaffirming their support for the 100-year-old law on secularism and announcing that a change "is not on the agenda."
"Any review must respect this law strictly," Villepin, his rival in the virtual race for the presidency, said on Sunday.
The 1905 law has such wide support that many French see the official neutrality it created as a pillar of their democracy.
But it was passed before Muslims began migrating here in large numbers in recent decades. While public money subsidises everything from big companies to small clubs in France, the law bars any direct public help for building houses of worship.
"This is a problem of electoral strategy, confronting one electorate against another," said Marcel Gauchet, a philosopher specialised in the role of religion.
"Should one segment the electorate by categories, as the Americans do, or not? It's a real debate among politicians as to the best way to run a presidential campaign," he told the daily Liberation.
MUSLIMS IN THE MIDDLE
While Sarkozy is clearly pitching his message to the 5-million-strong Muslim minority, not all its leaders think that breaking a taboo is the best way to get subsidies or solve the problems they face when seeking permission to build mosques.
Their concern about being forced to take sides was clear in a statement that Dalil Boubakeur, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), issued on Monday.
After stating his support for the separation of church and state, he praised a Villepin project for financing mosque construction while nodding towards Sarkozy by saying that "other responses could be found within the framework of the 1905 law."
The Catholic Church, the largest religious institution in France, officially opposes any change in the law. French Jewish leaders have also warned against rocking the boat.
The tiny Protestant Federation of France is the only long-established religious community calling for a change, mostly because the growing ranks of evangelicals also face administrative problems trying to build churches.
While Muslims sometimes have problems getting building permits from conservative town councils, the evangelicals -- mostly immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean -- face hostility from some left-wing officials who see them as a potential Trojan Horse for American-style religious politics.
Church-state divide becomes French campaign issue
Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:16 PM BST
By Tom Heneghan
PARIS (Reuters) - The separation of church and state is shaping up as an early hot-button issue for France's next presidential election as rival politicians begin jockeying for votes among the large Muslim minority.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious interior minister already planning his campaign for the 2007 contest, staked out the issue last week by appointing a commission to study possible changes to the law dividing the spiritual and temporal spheres.
President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin fired back over the weekend, reaffirming their support for the 100-year-old law on secularism and announcing that a change "is not on the agenda."
"Any review must respect this law strictly," Villepin, his rival in the virtual race for the presidency, said on Sunday.
The 1905 law has such wide support that many French see the official neutrality it created as a pillar of their democracy.
But it was passed before Muslims began migrating here in large numbers in recent decades. While public money subsidises everything from big companies to small clubs in France, the law bars any direct public help for building houses of worship.
"This is a problem of electoral strategy, confronting one electorate against another," said Marcel Gauchet, a philosopher specialised in the role of religion.
"Should one segment the electorate by categories, as the Americans do, or not? It's a real debate among politicians as to the best way to run a presidential campaign," he told the daily Liberation.
MUSLIMS IN THE MIDDLE
While Sarkozy is clearly pitching his message to the 5-million-strong Muslim minority, not all its leaders think that breaking a taboo is the best way to get subsidies or solve the problems they face when seeking permission to build mosques.
Their concern about being forced to take sides was clear in a statement that Dalil Boubakeur, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), issued on Monday.
After stating his support for the separation of church and state, he praised a Villepin project for financing mosque construction while nodding towards Sarkozy by saying that "other responses could be found within the framework of the 1905 law."
The Catholic Church, the largest religious institution in France, officially opposes any change in the law. French Jewish leaders have also warned against rocking the boat.
The tiny Protestant Federation of France is the only long-established religious community calling for a change, mostly because the growing ranks of evangelicals also face administrative problems trying to build churches.
While Muslims sometimes have problems getting building permits from conservative town councils, the evangelicals -- mostly immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean -- face hostility from some left-wing officials who see them as a potential Trojan Horse for American-style religious politics.