Freedom of religion in France is guaranteed by the constitutional rights set forth in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
From the conversion of King Clovis I in 508, the Roman Catholic faith was the state religion for a thousand years, as was the case across Western Europe. In the 1500s, the Protestant faith gained numerous converts in France. A series of bloody persecutions and religious civil wars were ended by the Edict of Nantes issued by King Henry IV, granting official tolerance and protection to the Protestant minority. However, the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Henry's grandson, Louis XIV in 1685, forced many Protestants to convert to Catholicism or flee the country as Huguenot refugees.
Catholicism remained the state religion of France until the 1790s, when it was heavily persecuted during the French Revolution. After Napoleon Bonaparte became head of state, he brought an end to the religious turmoil by negotiating the Concordat of 1801 with the Pope, allowing Catholic worship, education, and charitable activities to resume with financial support from the state. This agreement continued in force throughout the 19th century, despite rising anti-clericalism. Toleration was also extended to Lutherans, Calvinists, and Jews.
Since the enactment of the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, the French government has followed the principle of laïcité (secularism), in which the State does not recognize or support any religion as official (except for the local law in Alsace-Moselle). Instead, it merely recognizes certain religious organizations, according to formal legal criteria that do not address religious doctrine. In return, religious organizations are to refrain from involvement in the State's policy-making.
Alsace came back to France only in November 1918. Contrary to other French regions, Alsace was under French Concordat of 1802. The territory was under German dominion from 1871 to 1918. When it came back to France, they kept the Concordat rule and did not come under Loi 1905.
In 2023, Freedom House scored the country 3 out of 4 for religious freedom;Freedom House website, France page, retrieved 2023-08-28 this was mainly due to the Reinforcing Republican Principles Bill (the Anti-Separatism Law), as well as high-profile antisemitic speech in the public media.
Background
Terminology French language terminology related to religion and freedom of religion differs somewhat from English. In particular, there are several misleading faux amis between French and English regarding religion: The French culte means "(religious) worship", or, in a legal context, an organized "religion", taken in a broad sense. An organisation cultuelle is thus an organization that supports religious worship, not a "cult". As explained below, there are financial and other operational constraints for being recognized as an association cultuelle for tax purposes. The French secte can have the meaning of the English sect, especially when applied to Buddhism. However, in general parlance, it has the derogatory meaning of the English "cult".
Government and religious organizations
The relationship between government and religious organizations in France is defined by the 1905 "Law concerning the separation of the churches and the state" ("Loi concernant la séparation des Églises et de l'Etat"). Its first sentence is, though:
The Republic assures freedom of conscience. It guarantees the free exercise of religious worship under the sole restrictions hereafter in the interest of public order. The Republic does not grant recognition nor pay nor subsidises any church. (La République assure la liberté de conscience. Elle garantit le libre exercice des cultes sous les seules restrictions édictées ci-après dans l'intérêt de l'ordre public. La République ne reconnaît, ne salarie ni ne subventionne aucun culte.)
The 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which is considered by legal authorities to have equal legal standing with the Constitution of France, states:
No one may be questioned about his opinions, [and the] same [for] religious [opinions], provided that their manifestation does not trouble the public order established by the law.
and:
The law has the right to ward [i.e., forbid] only actions [which are] harmful to the society. Any thing which is not warded [i.e., forbidden] by the law cannot be impeded, and no one can be constrained to do what it [i.e., the law] does not order.
Thus follows that the French government cannot arbitrarily regulate and prohibit religious activity; it is strictly constrained to regulate it only to the extent that there is a need to safeguard public order and prohibit actions harmful to society (such as, for instance, human sacrifices).
The French concept of religious freedom did not grow out of an existing pluralism of religions but has its roots in a history with Roman Catholicism as the single official religion and including centuries of persecution of people not endorsing it, or straying from the most official line, from the Cathars to the Huguenots and the Jansenists – this lasted until the French Revolution.
French insistence on the lack of religion in all things public (laïcité or secularism) is a notable feature in the French ideal of citizenship. This concept of secularism, also plays a role in ongoing discussions about the wearing of scarves by Muslim women in public schools. In 2004, the French Parliament passed a law prohibiting the wearing of ostentatious religious garb in public primary and secondary schools; motivations included the tradition of keeping religious and political debates and proselytism out of such schools, as well as the preservation of the freedom of Muslim female students forced to wear certain costumes out of peer pressure. See French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools.
The French Republic has always recognised individuals rather than groups and holds that its citizens' first allegiance is to society in general and not to a particular group, religious or otherwise; the opposing attitude, known as communautarisme, is generally considered undesirable in political discourse in France. On the other hand, the state sees that it is also responsible to protect individuals from groups rather than to protect groups, religious or others.
Apart from special cases due to historical circumstances (the local law in Alsace-Moselle and the military chaplaincy regimes), the French government is prohibited by law from granting official recognition to religion, and is also prohibited from subsidizing them or paying their personnel. However the government grants recognition to legal entities (associations) supporting religious activities. The difference is important, since the French government refuses to legally define what is a religion and what is not, and refuses to legally delimit the boundaries of religions. The state has a role in the appointment of bishops, directly in the case of Strasbourg and Metz, and indirectly (but with a rarely used power of veto) in that of other diocesan bishops. In consequence only suitable nationals are appointed and the episcopate does not reflect the ethnic diversity of practising Catholics in France.
Individuals organizing as groups with the exclusive purpose of worship (associations cultuelles) may register as such and get significant tax exemptions set by law. Religious groups with non-worship (e.g. humanitarian) activities are free to get organized as associations with the usual tax exemptions granted to secular associations. These definitions are covered by an extensive body of jurisprudence (roughly, case law) which focuses on the activities of the groups from a financial point of view, and does, according to law, not take religious doctrine into account.
The population of France is roughly 50% Roman Catholic, 4–5% Muslim, around 3% Protestant, 1% Jewish, 1% Buddhist, 1% other denominations, and 40% not religious (with 30% of atheists). Franţa nu mai e o ţară catolică (France is no longer a Catholic country), Cotidianul, 2007-01-11; "France 'no longer a Catholic country'", Daily Telegraph, 10 January 2007 Church attendance is low among Catholics, and polls indicate that a significant proportion of the population is atheist or agnostic. Since the French government does not collect data on religious preferences, all quoted numbers are from polls rather than from a census and should be considered with the corresponding caution.
Attitudes with respect to minority religions and cults in France
Since the 1970s and 1980s, an increasing number of new religious movements have become active in France. Certain religious bodies such as the Church of Scientology, the Children of God, the Unification Church, the Raëlian movement or the Order of the Solar Temple were listed by parliamentary reports as dangerous or criminal cults.
Officials and associations fighting excesses of such groups, justified these measures by the need to have appropriate legal tools and the need to fight criminal organizations masquerading as legitimate religious groups. Critics contended that those actions unfairly targeted minority religions, jeopardized freedom of religion, and were motivated by prejudice. The matters were made even more complex by the fact that some of the groups involved are based in the United States, where they actively lobbied the intervention of the government of that country.
Difficulties France, as well as other countries, was aware of various tragedies caused by groups labeled as "destructive cults" such as the People's Temple, the Branch Davidians and Aum Shinrikyo and the suicide murders of the Order of the Solar Temple which occurred in Quebec, Switzerland and France. Furthermore, some groups such as the Church of Scientology were accused of defrauding their members.
The population in general is not in favor of groups described as cults. In 2000, a representative 1000 person indicated that the majority of the polled people considered cults a significant threat to democracy (73%), their family and friends (66%), and themselves (64%) and 86% (76% of adherents of other religions than Catholicism) favored legislation restricting cults.
Leaders of the French Protestant minority claim that freedom of religion was actually well protected in France and that cultural sensitivity and careful relationships with local authorities and other Christians could prevent most difficulties. Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the French Association of Protestants: "I have no time for the idea that we live in a country that represses religious liberties. We continue to enjoy total freedom in setting up religious organizations as long as the existing legislation is known and applied." Stéphane Lauzet, the Nîmes-based general secretary of the French Evangelical Alliance (part of the World Evangelical Fellowship): "Christian groups encounter problems mostly when they misunderstand or ignore the complex technicalities of French law. Even aggressive evangelists can work without any real problems as long as they stick to the law."
Complaints by minority religions and groups Some groups have complained that, following from the publications of those reports and the enactment of the About-Picard law, they have suffered from discrimination by public authorities, private corporations and individuals.
The group Coordination des Associations et Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience, founded in January 2002, requested: the dissolution of the MILS as its very purpose, "to fight against sects," is an affront to the French Constitution which guarantees the religious neutrality of the State and the principle of separation of Church and State