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| Laicism | |
|---|---|
| Name | Laicism |
| Related | Secularism, Separatism, Neutrality |
Laicism
Laicism is a doctrine advocating institutional separation between religious institutions and public institutions, emphasizing state neutrality toward Catholic Church, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and other faiths. It promotes policies affecting Constitution of France, Turkish Constitution, Spanish Constitution of 1978, Portuguese Constitution and other foundational texts, and intersects with jurisprudence from courts like the European Court of Human Rights, Supreme Court of the United States, Constitutional Court of Turkey and Conseil d'État (France). Advocates and critics reference figures such as Jules Ferry, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Charles de Gaulle, Jean Jaurès, Henri Bergson, Alexis de Tocqueville and Émile Durkheim.
Laicism defines a model wherein the state maintains institutional neutrality toward Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, Orthodox Church (Eastern) and other organized religions, and where public policy reflects principles found in documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, European Convention on Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and national constitutions. Core principles are separation of ecclesiastical authority from bodies such as the Assemblée nationale (France), Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Congress of the Republic (Peru), Knesset and Bundestag, equality of citizens in forums including the International Court of Justice and administrative neutrality applied by bodies like the Prefectures of France, Ministry of Justice (Turkey), Supreme Court of India and High Court of Australia. Proponents draw on philosophical works by John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Baron de Montesquieu, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Voltaire and Denis Diderot.
Roots of laicism trace to conflicts involving institutions such as the Holy See, Avignon Papacy, Spanish Inquisition, English Reformation, French Revolution, Napoleonic Code, Wars of Religion and the secularizing reforms of the Enlightenment. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments involved episodes like the Dreyfus Affair, Separation of Church and State (United States), Leyes de Reforma (Mexico), the Kulturkampf, the Young Turk Revolution and the Turkish War of Independence. Intellectual influences include August Comte, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Alexis de Tocqueville and legal codifications such as the French Law of 1905 on the Separation of the Churches and the State, the Turkish Secularism (laiklik) reforms, the Mexican Constitution of 1917 and the Spanish Constitution of 1931.
Implementation occurs through instruments like constitutional clauses in the Constitution of France, provisions in the Turkish Constitution, statutes such as the French law of 1905, judicial decisions by the European Court of Human Rights, rulings from the Supreme Court of the United States, administrative guidance from the Conseil d'État (France), and legislative measures in bodies like the Assemblée nationale (France), Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Congress of the United States. Institutional actors include ministries such as the Ministry of Interior (France), Ministry of Culture (France), Directorate of Religious Affairs (Turkey), Vatican Secretariat of State and national police forces like the Gendarmerie nationale and Turkish National Police. Legal disputes often cite cases from tribunals including the Court of Cassation (France), Constitutional Court of Spain, Supreme Court of India and Federal Constitutional Court (Germany).
Variants range from strict neutrality as in policies associated with the French Third Republic, the Kemalist Republic of Turkey and the Mexican Revolution to accommodationist frameworks reflected in arrangements like the German Concordat system, the United Kingdom established church model involving the Church of England, the Norwegian Church Act, the Italian Lateran Treaties, the Israel Basic Laws approach to religion, and pluralist settlements found in federations like the United States, Canada and Australia. Hybrid models involve instruments like concordats with the Holy See, state-funded faith schools such as those in England and Wales, grant systems in Germany and recognized religion registries like in Russia, Greece and Poland.
Laicism shapes public life in areas including holiday regulation referenced to Easter, Ramadan, Diwali, Yom Kippur, museum policies involving the Louvre, Pergamon Museum, public broadcasting institutions such as Radio France, BBC, Deutsche Welle and Türkiye Radyo Televizyon Kurumu, and educational curricula from ministries like the Ministry of National Education (France), Ministry of Education (Turkey), Department of Education (United States) and Ministry of Education (Spain). Cultural debates involve artists and intellectuals such as Émile Zola, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, Orhan Pamuk, Taslima Nasrin, Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Social movements including Laïcité demonstrations, labor organizations like the General Confederation of Labour (France), feminist groups such as Mouvement de libération des femmes and civil rights bodies like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International engage with laicism-related policies.
Critics argue laicism can conflict with rights protected under instruments like the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and national courts including the European Court of Human Rights, Supreme Court of the United States and Constitutional Court of Turkey. Debates involve scholars and politicians such as Habermas, Michel Foucault, Gérard Collomb, François Hollande, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Marine Le Pen, Ahmet Davutoğlu and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Contentious issues include religious symbols litigation exemplified by cases in the European Court of Human Rights, school headscarf controversies reaching the Conseil d'État (France) and Supreme Court of India, public funding disputes involving the Vatican, Evangelical Alliance, Al-Azhar University, and policy disputes over immigration affecting municipalities like Paris, Istanbul, Brussels and Madrid.
France: policies shaped by the French Revolution, Dreyfus Affair, Law of 1905, actors like Jules Ferry and institutions including the Conseil d'État (France) and La République En Marche!. Turkey: reforms led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, institutions like the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), and jurisprudence from the Constitutional Court of Turkey. United States: separation principles in decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States referencing the First Amendment, disputes such as Engel v. Vitale. United Kingdom: established arrangements centered on the Church of England, debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Spain and Portugal: transitions involving the Spanish transition to democracy, the Portuguese Carnation Revolution and constitutions of 1978 and 1976 respectively. Mexico: post-revolutionary secularization under figures like Venustiano Carranza and instruments such as the Mexican Constitution of 1917. India: constitutional secularism adjudicated by the Supreme Court of India and policy from the Ministry of Home Affairs (India). Germany: federal arrangements, concordats with the Holy See and funding models involving the Zwangssteuer (church tax). Russia: post-Soviet church-state relations involving the Russian Orthodox Church and legal frameworks in the Constitution of Russia.