Laicism

Laicism, also called Laïcité or French Secularism, is a stance regarding institutional religion which believes that religion and society shouldn't mix and faith should be left as a purely personal matter. Although laicism is commonly used interchangeably with secularism, it differs from the Anglo-American interpretation of secularism in the regard that the latter does not seek to make religion a purely personal matter just one which is free from the state.

Original French Secularism
Introduced in 1905, secularism originally represented the victory of anti-clerical republicanism, which, ever since the 1789 French Revolution, had stigmatised the Roman Catholic Church as a bastion of reaction, ignorance and superstition. In concrete terms, the 1905 law dramatically limited the power of the Church by enshrining three key principles: strict separation of Church and State, freedom of conscience and freedom to exercise any faith.

Modern French Secualrism
In contemporary France, however, the conflict with the Roman Catholic Church is long dead, with the result that secularism has come to stand for something else: managing ethnic difference in society that is diametrically opposed to the community based approach advocated in the English-speaking world. According to this modern schema, secularism is about avoiding Anglo-Saxon style ghettos; coming together as citizens; and transcending narrow religious differences.

Views
The beliefs of Laicism (french secularism) are essentially based on three pillars:


 * State neutrality


 * Freedom of conscience


 * Pluralism

In a more political and philosophical sense, laicism also means a desire to prevent the hold of one religion on society, by ensuring, in addition to the neutrality of the State, the confinement of the religious fact to the private sphere.

Criticism
Lacism is criticised by proponents of the 'Anglo-Saxon' or 'Anglo-American' interpretation of secularism for being too authoritarian in nature. As religion is often inseparable from public life the notion that the state should prohibit all examples of it from public life largely becomes anti-religious meaning that instead of the state securing religious freedom by the means of not allowing for religious institutions to use state power to suppress other religious institutions (as is done in secularism) it instead turns the state equally against all religious institution except in areas it deems personal.

How to Draw
Laicism_flag.svg
 * 1) Draw a ball,
 * 2) Fill it with greyish-blue colour,
 * 3) Draw an white atom symbol in the middle,
 * 4) Draw four while swooshes: two in the top left and two in the bottom right,
 * 5) Add the eyes and you're done!

Friends

 * [[File:Girondi.png]] Girondism - Vive la révolution!
 * [[File:SecSat.png]] Atheistic Satanism - You can be too edgy and petulant for my liking, but we both agree that religion has no place in the public sphere.
 * [[File:Macron.png]] Macronism - One can lead the République only by upholding Laïcité! Also, thanks for the nice tweet about me.
 * [[File:Melenchon.png]] Mélenchonism - Among all those politicians claiming to defend me, you understood me the best, and you proudly perpetuate my legacy!
 * [[File:FraLeftCon.png]] French Left-Conservatism.
 * [[File:Cball-Quebec.png]] Quebecoisism - You carry my ideas quite well! REMOVE ALL HIJABS AND CROSSES IN PUBLIC OR ELSE! Just ignore the emphasis on things related to Islam.

Frenemies

 * [[File:Jack.png]] Jacobinism - Don't get me wrong, I'm still beyond thankful for you helping pave the way for our modern secular values, but I still wish you never tried pushing the whole "Cult of the Supreme Being" stuff.
 * [[File:StateathFedora.png]] State Atheism - We need to completely remove religion from the public sphere and the government, but I don't think killing religious people is a good idea. Religion should just be a personal thing after all.
 * [[File:Civlibert.png]] Civil Libertarianism - Look buddy, I don't have a problem with freedom of expression or anything, I just think a bit of paternalism is a good way to uphold the separation of church and state, ok?

Enemies

 * [[File:Christy.png]][[File:JewTheo.png]][[File:Muslim 2.png]][[File:Hind.png]][[File:Bud.png]] Theocracies - The worst government system of all time. Stop trying to force your dogma on everyone and just let people think for themselves.
 * [[File:Confess.png]] Confessionalism - Nah, I don't care if you technically just want religion in politics and not public life, complete separation of religion and government is the bedrock of a free society. Don't ask why I ban public religious expression.

Wikipedia

 * Laicite
 * Centre d'action laique
 * 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State

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