If you have read this blog before you will have already come across my musings about the uniqueness of the French experience of the separation of church and state. The usual translation of the French word for this, la laïcité, is “secularism”, but this really doesn’t do it justice. After 8 years I thought I was just beginning to get my head around it when I read of Mr. Sarkozy’s recent visit to the Vatican. To my astonishment I learnt that ever since Henri IV back in the 17th century, every French head of state has received the honorary title of Canon of the Basilica of Saint-Jean-de-Latran, one of the churches of Rome under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. In France, the fact that Elizabeth II is still the head of the Church of England, is regularly deplored. So in our post-revolutionary secular republic, what can possibly be the reason for retaining this three hundred-year-old custom? Does the Vatican still consider France “the elder daughter of the Church”?
Mr Sarkozy is quite open about his adherence to Catholicism, and unlike the authors of the failed European constitution, he considers Christianity a determining factor in French national identity. Following the ceremony at the Basilica, the president extolled the virtue of a “positive secularism” that ensures freedom of thought on the one hand, but which upholds the Christian roots of the French nation. The nature of these “Christian roots” is the subject of another discussion (how “Christian” were they really?), but it is worth noting that this is a departure from the relative silence of French presidents with regard to matters of faith. The dyed-in-the-wool secular republicans will be very offended by Sarkozy’s statements; some Christians optimists will see this as heralding a return of Christianity to the public sphere. I don’t see it as anything to get excited about, although it is somewhat refreshing to see a public figure who isn’t so highly strung about the church and state thing. For further details see an article at Worldwide Religious News. Or for some of the shocked reactions of the Left, see this article in the Figaro (in French - have you tried Google Language Tools?)
So France has a new president! It has been interesting observing the reactions in the media here in New Zealand. Friends in France are often surprised to hear that French (and European) current affairs are followed with interest down here at the bottom of the world. Reactions appear to have been fairly positive thus far :
Mr Sarkozy, son of a Hungarian immigrant, is not a product of the public service academy that has put its stamp on most of France’s leading figures. He sounds like a man of change rather than of tradition, and France sorely needs that. The 12-year presidency of Jacques Chirac has left the economy flat and overdue for drastic repairs. Mr Chirac was a classic conservative, content to accept the long-established line that market liberalism is somehow Anglo-Saxon and foreign to the social and moral foundations of the French republic. Mr Sarkozy is not nearly so sniffy.
New Zealand Herald
(speaking of M. Sarkozy’s break with the past) His emphasis on dignity, opportunity, respect and nationhood appeal to an older moral ethic, and a conception of France which, at least in theory, recognises the common good. The change he is promising rejects the pieties, policies and attitudes of rigid socialism…which have perplexed and paralysed France since they began their rise in the 1960s.
Maxim Institute
There have also been comments about Sarkozy being a “union-basher”, and predictions that he will come down hard on immigrants so as to be seen to be taking action. Nevertheless, much is made of his Hungarian background, and his selection of an immigrant cabinet minister.
It was France’s largest voter turnout in two decades. What does this say about how the French view their future? We are watching with interest.
Have you heard about the latest riot in Paris? A young guy travelling on the metro punched a couple of controllers when they asked him for his ticket and it all went downhill from there. Conflicting reports suggest there were about 7 wounded (mostly police and metro staff), and 13 arrested including a number of minors. It’s intriguing to see how the international media deal with these things, and how there’s always a rush to find some kind of deep meaning behind it all.
With only a month to go till the presidential elections the candidates have made much political mileage out of it. Continue reading ‘The politics of a Paris riot’
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