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In France, following the controversy over the Islamic headscarf, people are now debating a possible bill that would ban religious signs and symbols in schools. We in the French Church are contrary to a law of this type for various reasons: first, because it risks developing very strong reactions and exacerbating community tensions; second, because the law fixes general principles and does not regulate exceptions, for example communities formed by less numerous groups of people; third, while it is undoubtedly necessary to impose some rules because headmasters find themselves having to tackle difficult situations, the problem cannot be solved at the legislative level; fourth, religious signs are the symptom of a malaise; to eliminate them would be to remove the symptom without curing the disease or the difficulty it signals. The integration of Islam in our country is indeed a real challenge not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the National Assembly and the whole of French and European society. We need to grasp how Islam can be integrated effectively in society in such a way that each person may freely express his/her own religion. Drawing a clear distinction between religious law and civil law is the necessary condition to ensure that Islam accepts religious freedom, the role of women in society… So many questions remain open, but they cannot be resolved only on the basis of religious signs, because the heart of the problems lies elsewhere. The risk is that tensions will be reignited in a moment in which social equilibria are very precarious. The lay principle in fact provides an environment that permits religious freedom and freedom of worship within the neutrality of the State. But precisely as laity we need to preserve and guarantee the exercise of worship and religious freedom. Of course there’s a need for rules, because it’s not acceptable for example that a family should forbid its children to participate in gymnastics or civic education at school. But a bill may provoke dangerous forms of extremism. For several years now there has existed an important forum for dialogue between the government and religions, with the participation of Catholics, Protestants and Muslims. That means that the government realises that religious faith is not a question of little account, nor a fact to be relegated to the private sphere, but has an important social dimension. But at this time, it’s not the lay principle, but living together, that is in danger. Religions, if they really respect their role and status, can make a positive contribution of their own. The challenge consists in living together amicably with our differences and with our different positions on questions of solidarity, justice, money. And it’s just on the subject of money that over 2500 French Catholics, who participated in recent days in the Semaines sociales de France, in Paris, met together to reflect. It’s important that as many people as possible get interested in questions which people don’t much like to speak about within our Christian communities. We need to put money in its right place, without demonising or idolising it. The fact that businessmen and executives, who usually have no occasion to reflect on the ethical aspects of the question, participated in the Social Week is important. We need to distinguish faith from daily life, which is made of incarnation. We cannot enclose ourselves in a sacristy. We need to live in the world, conscious of how money can be a means to help our living together and at the same contribute to the reduction of poverty. It’s a challenge that it posed to us every day at the collective and personal level.
