Islam unveiled

Islam in France is on the move. It is estimated that there are now about five million Muslims in France (against fewer than one million Protestants or Jews), and one million or so have full voting rights.

Such a substantial minority can only be expected to make its voice heard and to retain the electoral attentions of politicians.

Until recently Muslims have been a discrete and almost invisible presence, apart from in suburban ghettos around the major towns. But now things are changing.
Last year the Raffarin government instituted the Islamic Council of France, something comparable to the Protestant Federation, to represent their interests. The effect has been to create a new form of unity among Islamic groups, which were previously disorganised or even at loggerheads, and also to give Muslims much greater media visibility through delegated representatives. M. Sarkozy, the interior minister, has expressed hopes that by officialising political dialogue, the voices of moderation will prevail.

The veil question

Last October the start of Ramadan was fixed for the first time for all Muslim residents in France by the Islamic Council. A day did not pass without a news items in the media about what the feast is and what French Muslims do to celebrate it, down to the culinary aspects, which, of course, interest the French more than anything. Several years ago such exposure would have been unthought of. Now it receives the same coverage as Easter in the Christian calendar.

Against the backdrop of events in Iraq, the debate as to whether Muslim girls can go to school wearing a veil, thought to have been laid to rest at the time of Jospin's previous socialist government as being contradictory to the republican principle of religious neutrality, has been resurrected. Several test cases have placed local authorities, particularly the principals of schools, in sticky situations.

The issue is whether there should be new legislation to handle the problem. The present laws regarding the separation of church and state and the maintenance of public neutrality on religious questions date from 1905. They were made to curtail the power of the Catholic church particularly in the realm of education. It has been proposed in a government report that all 'ostentatious religious symbols' be excluded from schools in order to respect the non-religious principle in public life. To counterbalance this apparent repetition of 1905, the report also proposes that the end of Ramadan and Yom Kippur be made bank holidays, an idea scorned as inconsistent by hard-line secularists.

Opponents of new legislation fear that it will simply entrench old attitudes of intolerance toward public expressions of religious belief. Those in favour see it as necessary in order to limit the influence of religious extremism and maintain the cherished republican principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.

Denial of equality?

However, the problem in France is far more complex than a desire to limit fundamentalism or intolerance of religion in a secular society. The Archbishop of Canterbury's comments in his Christmas sermon favouring tolerance of differences and the right to freedom of religious expression do little to really address the French case.

The right to wear the veil in school is seen as a denial of the republican principle of equality that cuts at the foundation of the specific nature of the French system as such. The veil is not only a statement of a religious conviction - after all, many children wear a cross in school, without raising debates - but it is also a statement of the subservient position of the female in relation to the male in public life. This is perceived as a retrograde denial of sexual equality and a denial of the benefits of progress. As such it seems to be a subversion of the revolutionary principles of 1789.

Bigger issues still

The question of the veil, insoluble and inflammatory though it is, might only be a sideshow by comparison with bigger issues beginning to surface. In Aix-en-Provence, where I live, as in several other large French towns, a new problem has raised its head. Until now there have been few mosques in France and Muslim practice has been largely centred on prayer rooms, which are hardly noticeable to the passer-by. Even though the number of practising Muslims is no greater than the percentage for Roman Catholicism, the authorities are faced with demands for the right to construct mosques. No objection can be raised to this in principle.

However, a friend who was invited to speak with the representative of the local mayor on this question, informs me of a further development. In our town, the Islamic representatives are not only asking for planning permission, but also requesting a grant of a free site and local funding for the construction.

This presents an obvious problem for the practice of laicite. Other religious groups receive no public funds for their activities, apart from in Alsace where there is a special statute, or where the local authority owns a church building that is a heritage site.

My colleague tells me that it is likely that there will be a grant of a construction site and perhaps funding in Aix, as the authorities find themselves at an impasse. If they refuse the request, it is more than likely that the Muslim groups will seek foreign aid for these projects, as was the case of the renamed Saddam Hussein mosque in Birmingham. And foreign aid means foreign influence, with the dangers of the radicalisation of local Islamic activities.

However, Protestants and Catholics argue that to grant aid in this way would be contrary to the principles of the republic, and institutes favours not allowed to other religious groups and their projects. No evangelical church I know has ever received such privileges from the authorities, and would not even consider asking. This situation shows how the Muslims are testing their muscle and using their newfound visibility to suit their ends.

Tiger by the tail

It is difficult to say what the long-term outcome of this situation will be, but it cannot be ignored that Islam a la francaise is here to stay. The government obviously hopes that concessionary policies will placate the Islamic minority and also serve as a means of exercising some form of legal control on the situation, very important in the light of the political centralisation which exists in France on all levels. It no doubt also hopes that this policy will serve to marginalise the demands of fundamentalists and push things in the direction of Islamic moderation and tolerance. It remains to be seen if the government is not holding a tiger by the tail without realising it.

Could such developments serve to advance the interests of French evangelical Christians, often viewed with suspicion by their local authorities as being of a sectarian nature? It is certainly unlikely to be the case, as no Protestant group has the numerical clout of the Muslims, or poses a threat to the well-oiled machine of the republic. Which all goes to show that 21st-century France remains a very large mission field, where the opportunities are great but Christian labourers are few.

Paul Wells reflects on recent French concerns

The veil question

Denial of equality?

Bigger issues still

Tiger by the tail

Paul Wells

Main Articles

Other articles