Church-State Separation Act (France)
The law on the separation of church and state ( French Loi relative à la séparation des Eglises et de l'Etat ; also known as "Loi Combes" after the Prime Minister Émile Combes at the time ) introduced secularism in France in 1905 .
background
In the Third French Republic after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, internal political tensions had repeatedly arisen because powerful conservative-restorative forces in French society were fundamentally skeptical of the republican-democratic form of state and society. They sought a conservative-authoritarian restructuring of the state, right up to the reintroduction of the monarchy . These forces had particular support in military circles, in the aristocracy, with radicalized petty bourgeoisie and parts of the Catholic Church . These ideas took on an extreme form through Action françaisethat was monarchist, anti-democratic and anti-parliamentary, nationalist, militant Catholic, anti-German and anti-Semitic.
One expression of the struggle between the conservative anti-parliamentary forces and the supporters of the parliamentary-democratic republic was the Dreyfus affair , which rocked the country from 1894-1905. The affair finally ended with the complete rehabilitation of the wrongly convicted Captain Dreyfus and thus with a victory for the Republican side.
In 1902, in the wake of this affair, the political left had won the parliamentary elections. The Catholic Church in particular was viewed by the radical democrats as an enemy of the republic. The bourgeois liberals particularly criticized the anti-modernist attitude of the Catholic Church. There was also a long tradition of anti-clericalism in France , going back to the time of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution . The new government decided to finally limit the influence of the churches on society and especially on education. The leading figures in these endeavors were Aristide Briand ,Émile Combes , Jean Jaurès , Georges Clemenceau and Francis de Pressens. Prime Minister Combes in particular, a former seminary student who served from 1902 to 1905, showed himself to be a vehement anti-clerical. The relationship between the Church and the French state was reorganized in a number of laws:
- As early as 1901, the French law on associations, enacted by the previous government, forced all monasteries, orders and congregations under papal law to submit to the authority of a French bishop; exemte communities that were directly subordinate to the Pope had to dissolve or leave France in October 1901.
- July 1902: Closure of the approx. 3000 church schools that are not officially approved. This led to violent public protests - 74 bishops signed a "protestation". The government then ceases to pay bishops.
- March 1903: Dissolution of all male religious orders ; numerous friars and fathers find refuge in "alternative monasteries" abroad and in French colonies.
- July 1903: Dissolution of all female religious orders
- July 7, 1904: Prohibition of founding new religious orders
On December 9, 1905, the so-called “Loi Combes” was finally adopted. This law on the separation of church and state established the principle of secularism that is still valid today in France. H. the complete separation of church and state. The law applied primarily to the Catholic Church, but the other denominations were included in this regulation for reasons of neutrality .
The laws were condemned by Pius X in the encyclical Vehementer nos and for many years worsened the relationship between the French Republic and the Catholic Church. In some cases, the laws could only be enforced against considerable opposition from loyal to the church. On July 28, 1904, diplomatic relations between France and the Vatican were broken off. They were resumed in 1921.
Since then there has been no state funding for the church or other religious communities (all sacred buildings built before 1905, especially the churches, are publicly owned and maintained), and there is no religious education in state schools. This means that the usually older Catholic church buildings of the largest denomination are maintained by the state, while those of the other Christian denominations and other religions are not. An exception is the time for the German Empire belonging Alsace-Lorraine , where there is religious education in state schools today, French Guiana , French Polynesia and New Caledonia. As early as 1901, a new association law stipulated that religious communities had to apply for recognition as an association , which was subject to strict conditions , which was increasingly implemented in the years under Combes and ultimately denied to almost all communities. In 1902 around 3,000 church-run schools were closed. From July 1904, members of the order were no longer allowed to work as teachers at all, crucifixes and religious symbols were removed from public buildings such as schools or courts. With the law of 1905, the French government also terminated the Concordat , the 1801 Napoleon with the Vaticanhad closed. The general prohibition of state promotion of religion does not apply to institutional pastoral care ("aumôneries"), whereby reference is made to the realization of religious freedom (Art. 1 (2) of the Separation Act of 1905). This also includes military chaplaincy , which was initially limited to Catholic, Protestant and Jewish military chaplains. In 2005 it was supplemented by an Islamic military chaplaincy.
Against the background of secularism in the state school system, z. For example, one can also see the dispute over the wearing of headscarves in French schools, which in 2005 led to the ruling that pupils must not wear religious clothing or clear religious symbols in class.
Axel von Campenhausen points out that “religious communities, especially the Roman Catholic Church and Islam ”, are promoted in a variety of ways. The legal situation was based on ministerial decrees, decrees and court decisions and was extremely confusing and contradicting the details. Therefore measures require cumbersome justification in individual cases.
meaning
France has been secular since then, which is also stated in Article 1 of the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic of 1958. In contrast with Germany Churches and religious communities are private law associations, not public bodies , the state does not allow religious instruction in public schools, prohibiting the wearing of religious symbols in schools, he moved to the churches, the church tax is not (the churches finance themselves otherwise) and the churches have no seat in broadcasting councils. Nevertheless, there are numerous private schools in France run by the Catholic Church and in which more than 20% of French students are taught.
literature
- Benedikt Kranemann , Myriam Wijlens (Hrsg.): Religion and Laicité in France. Developments, challenges and perspectives (= Erfurt theological writings. Vol. 37). Echter, Würzburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-429-03037-7 .
- Jean-Paul Cahn, Hartmut Kaelble (Hrsg.): Religion and secularism in France and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries. = Religions et laïcité en France et en Allemagne aux 19e et 20e siècles (= series of publications by the Franco-German Committee of Historians. Vol. 5). Steiner, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-515-09276-0 (German and French).
Web links
- Text of the law of December 9, 1905 at Wikisource (French)
- About the Law of 1905 in the Virtual Museum of French Protestantism
- Current text on a French government website (French)
- Janine Ziegler: The ideal of a neutral public. , Website of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, January 21, 2013, accessed on March 25, 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jörg Zedler (Ed.): The Holy See in International Relations 1870-1939. Utz, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-8316-4021-8 , here p. 289.
- ^ René Metz: The relationship between church and state in France . In: Joseph Listl (ed.): Outline of post-conciliar church law . Pustet, Regensburg 1980, ISBN 3-7917-0609-8 , pp. 907-922, here pp. 917-918.
- ^ On institutional and military pastoral care: Christian Walter: Religionsverfassungsrecht. In a comparative and international perspective (= Jus publicum. Vol. 150). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-16-148990-X , p. 324 f.
- ↑ Article in Humboldt Forum Recht (2008): State and Religion according to the Basic Law (pdf, 5 pages)
- ^ Alain Taverne: Catholic Schools in France . ( schulstiftung-freiburg.de [PDF]).
