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.

[[File:Secular.png]] Secularism
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civic affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a similar position seeking to remove or to minimize the role of religion in any public sphere. The term "secularism has a broad range of meanings, and in the most schematic, may encapsulate any stance that promotes the secular in any given context. Secularism is opposed to both state atheism and theocratic rule, since it regards people's rights to practice their religious beliefs freely, both of these governmental systems are opposed to secularism since they try to force beliefs onto people.

[[File:CapAnti Clerical.png]] Anti-Clericalism
Anti-Clericalism is a form of secularism that shows opposition to religious authority in social and political matters. This differs from normal secularism in the sense that Anti-Clericalism regards religious authority as harmful and something that should be opposed while Secularism takes a neutral stance on religion. Anti-Clericalism has been practiced commonly under state atheist countries, but also has been practiced under Anarchists who have been historically hostile to religious authority because they see it as another source of oppression like the state. Although, not everyone who is anti-clerical is anti-religious, anti-clericalism has its roots in religious people protesting against religious authority like under the protestant reformation, but also under the French Revolution where the clerics were murdered. So, the reasonings of why and who is opposing religious authority are different for each situation.

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:Kemal.png]] Kemalism - I admire the way you turned Turkey into a secular state. Too bad that those Neo-Ottomanist buttholes ruined it.
 * [[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:Goldwaterian.png]] Goldwaterianism & [[File:DavidHume.png]] Humeanism - Best conservatives ever.
 * [[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 - You started well but what's up with these "Cult of Reason" and "Cult of Supreme Being" ?!
 * [[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?
 * [[File:El-Sisi(Alt).png]] El-Sisi Thought, [[File:Absoc.png]] Nasserism & [[File:NDP(Egypt).png]] Mubarakism - At least you kept Egypt a secular state. But still, you should have gone further to abolish Sharia Law and establish the total separation of religion and state.

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:Ottoman.png]] Neo-Ottomanism - Ataturk is better than you, filthy theocrat!
 * [[File:Hindutva.png]] Hindutva - STOP CALLING ME "SICKULAR" YOU THEOCRAT MANIAC!!!
 * [[File:Confess.png]] Confessionalism - Nah, secularism is the bedrock of a free society. Don't ask why I ban public religious expression.

Wikipedia

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

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