Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figure and Tables
- Preface
- 1 Explaining the Accommodation of Muslim Religious Practices in Western Europe
- 2 Britain: Establishment Religion and Islamic Schools
- 3 France: Laïcité and the Ḥijāb
- 4 Germany: Multiple Establishment and Public Corporation Status
- 5 Public Attitudes toward State Accommodation of Muslims' Religious Practices
- 6 Integration and Muslim Practice
- Appendix: Survey Characteristics
- Glossary of Non-English Terms
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - France: Laïcité and the Ḥijāb
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figure and Tables
- Preface
- 1 Explaining the Accommodation of Muslim Religious Practices in Western Europe
- 2 Britain: Establishment Religion and Islamic Schools
- 3 France: Laïcité and the Ḥijāb
- 4 Germany: Multiple Establishment and Public Corporation Status
- 5 Public Attitudes toward State Accommodation of Muslims' Religious Practices
- 6 Integration and Muslim Practice
- Appendix: Survey Characteristics
- Glossary of Non-English Terms
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
It is laïcité that has allowed the public school to be the melting pot in which, through the alchemy of education, differences vanish so the nation can emerge.
Ernest Chenière, principal of a public junior high school in Creil, explaining why he suspended three Muslim girls for wearing the ḥijāb (Gonod 1989)The position of the Catholic Church is to say that, in this landscape which until now has been filled with … churches or synagogues, it is completely normal for Muslims also to be able to build mosques. That is, for them to have the freedom to live out their religion. I think that in a society which claims to be laïcité, it is extremely important for all religions to have freedom of expression and so for Muslims to be able to set up places of worship.
Bernard Panafieu (2001), archbishop of MarseilleIf we integrate them, if all the Arabs and Berbers of Algeria were considered French, how could they be prevented from settling in France, where the living standard is so much higher? My village would no longer be called Colombey-les-Deux-Églises [Colombey-the-Two-Churches] but Colombey-les-Deux-Mosquées [Colombey-the-Two-Mosques].
Charles de Gaulle, discussing why France should grant independence to Algeria (Shatz 2002:54)in contrast to the situation in Britain, the societal and political environment in France is surprisingly hostile to public accommodation of Muslims' religious practices.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany , pp. 62 - 97Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004