Guides and definitions
What is laïcité? A simple definition
In short
Laïcité is the principle that separates religions from the State. It guarantees everyone the freedom to believe, not to believe or to change conviction, forbids the State from favouring any religion, and requires neutrality from public officials while on duty.
This is the word in the syllabus that worries people most, often because they take it to be aimed against religions. It means exactly the opposite: a rule that protects everyone's freedom by preventing the State from taking sides. It rests on a law of 1905 and on two exceptions, the ones the exam tests most often.
What the 1905 law says
The law of 9 December 1905 sets down two rules that fit in a few words: the Republic ensures freedom of conscience and guarantees the free exercise of religion; it neither recognises, nor pays, nor subsidises any religion. In other words, the State does not interfere with religions, and religions do not run the State. That separation put an end to a situation in which certain religions were officially recognised and their ministers paid out of public funds. The principle was later written into the Constitution: from its very first article, France is a secular Republic.
What laïcité allows
It allows far more than people think. Everyone is free to have a religion, not to have one, to change it, to practise or not. You may wear a religious symbol in the street, on public transport, in a shop, in most places open to the public. You may build a place of worship, gather, express your convictions. Laïcité obliges nobody to hide their faith in public space: it only forbids the State from favouring or disadvantaging one belief over another.
What it does regulate
Two situations are exceptions, and they are the ones the exam tests most often. First, public officials: a town hall employee, a state school teacher, a police officer owe strict neutrality while on duty: they may display neither religious conviction nor political opinion at work. Second, pupils in state primary and secondary schools, for whom wearing conspicuous religious symbols is forbidden. In both cases the rule targets the role or the place, never the person as such.
Worth remembering
- Laïcité separates religions and the State; it fights no religion.
- Law of 9 December 1905: the State neither recognises, pays nor subsidises any religion.
- Neutrality is compulsory for public officials on duty and for pupils in state schools.
Frequently asked questions
Does laïcité prevent you from wearing a religious symbol in the street?
No. In ordinary public space — streets, transport, shops — everyone may wear the symbols of their conviction. The restrictions concern public officials on duty and pupils in state schools.
Does a member of the public have to be neutral in a public service?
No. Neutrality applies to the official behind the counter, not to the person coming to complete a formality. A member of the public may wear a religious symbol when going to the town hall or the préfecture.
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