Ask A French Teacher - What Is La LaÏcitÉ?

Tutorial Transcript

hi everybody can this year welcome to ask a teacher when I answer your most common French questions the question for this lesson is what is la lai city plan a city in short is the separation of state and religion another word for it is the secularism or secularism every country has its own principles of secularism in France it's part of a long historic battle against religious influence on laws and government different secular state or little age doesn't promote any one religion or discourage Amy as long as the beliefs and practices don't interfere with the state or with other citizens rights because of its commitment to total separation of religion and state though it means that overt religious activities and symbols are banned in public affairs that includes public schools public service offices and public areas this distinguishes it from other models of church-state separation such as in the United States in the u.s. the Constitution prohibits religious tests for government offices and the passage of laws that prevent people from exercising religion freely the US Constitution however does not prohibit people including members of government from expressing religious sentiment in the public sphere French Lai city however makes a sharp distinction between public and private spheres an attempt to keep religious expression out of the public one one area where this has caused controversy in recent years is the case of Muslim has caps this have been banned in some context such as schools though some in the Muslim community consider it obligatory critics say that rather than promoting diversity freedom of thought and opinion or multiculturalism lolei city is interfering with the right to basic religious self-expression Sangha further to argue that lay City unfairly infringes upon the rights of those who practice minority religions public holiday is for example continued to enshrine traditional ketotic values in public life by following derelict Jones liturgical calendar critics of fly City come from this traditional Christian perspective as well arguing that the prohibition of religious sentiment from public life served to deny the positive contribution faith has made to the history and culture of friends so different populations of friends are still at odds on what lay city is all about and whether the current laws are fair or not that's it for this lesson if you have any more questions please leave them in the comments a dental solution