French Religion

When the republic was established in France in 1789 with the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” all citizens and men were promised the freedom of religion and the freedom of thought. The establishment of the Republic was based upon the principle of “freedom of conscience,” which was enforced by the Jules Ferry Laws in 1880s and the 1905 French Law on the Separation of the Churches and the State. The majority of the people in France follow Roman Catholicism – which was considered a state religion prior to the revolution in 1789. The major religions in France include obviously, the Roman Catholic Church, various Protestant churches, Islam, Judaism, the Russian Orthodoxy and Armenian Christianity, just to name a few. After the revolution, religious observance dropped significantly – and due to the rights promised to the people, France remains to this day a strong believer in the freedom to practice any religion.

Social Religions

In France, due to the freedom of religion, it is traditionally considered a private matter and left out of many public discussions. For example, left wing politicians do not generally discuss their own religious beliefs (or lack thereof) and rarely use any religious arguments to further their political career.

Since the growth of Islam in France, its fundamentalism is considered by some to be a threat to the cohesion of French society – the reasons for tensions being the desire of a very few Islamic individuals to disobey French laws, regulations and customs. Additionally, due to public concern of cults, the French government has begun to pay attention to certain minority religious groups to protect the safety and well-being state of the nation.

Statistics

Since France practices freedom of religion, there is not much that can be said about the history of a certain religion in the nation. Instead, let’s take a look at a few religious statistics of the nation:

• A poll published in early 2010 revealed that the number of individuals that dubbed themselves Catholics dropped from 81% in 1965 to no more than 64% in 2009.
• A 2006 poll by “Le Monde” revealed that 51% of the French population called themselves Catholics (but only half believed in God), 31% as atheists, about 4% as Muslims, 3% as Protestants and a mere 1% as Jews.
• According to the Euro barometer Poll taken in 2005: 34% of French citizens responded with a belief in god, 27% answered that they believe in some sort of spirit or life force, while 33% of the population answer that “they don’t believe in any sort of spirit, God, or life force.”
• In 2007, the CIA World Fact book listed the religion of France as the following: Roman Catholic 83-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5-10%, and 4% unaffiliated with any religion.

Clearly, since religions are not observed in the nation of France, it is hard to determine such numbers – thus the reason for the varying numbers amongst the different polls/surveys. One thing is for sure, France is a beautiful place to live, regardless of the religion you wish to practice.