Emmanuel Macron calls for the defense of secularism against the "trap of identity-based interpretation"

Just months before the 120th anniversary of the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State, Emmanuel Macron called on Freemasons on Monday, May 5, to be the "watchdogs" of secularism in the face of the "trap of identity-based interpretation."

"I ask you to be ambassadors (...) of secularism," to demonstrate that "this is not a law of exclusion but of assembly," to "continually repeat that the only word that fits secularism is that of freedom," declared the Head of State during a speech before the Freemasons of the Grand Lodge of France.

"Be the watchmen of this great law of 1905," against those who "want to erase it, betray it or divert it," he added.

"Secular France is the natural daughter of the Republic (...) Let us beware of the trap being prepared by those who would like to interpret the 1905 law in terms of identity under the pretext of secularizing society, with the sole aim of attacking religions and beliefs, particularly in the name of their alleged incompatibility with the values ​​of the Republic," Emmanuel Macron insisted.

The head of state's speech comes as the right-wing Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, campaigning for the presidency of the LR party, is accused of overdoing it on issues of secularism in the face of Islam, notably by proposing to extend the provisions of the 2004 law banning religious symbols to chaperones on school trips and sports competitions.

This was the first visit by a President of the Republic to the Grand Lodge of France, the second largest Masonic association in France after the Grand Orient of France. It has 32,000 members, compared to 55,000 for the Grand Orient.

On December 9, 1905, the Republic - excluding Alsace and Moselle, then German territories - emerged from the concordat regime and dominant Catholicism by promulgating, after bitter debates, the "law concerning the separation of Church and State."

Two major principles are set in stone in the law. First, "freedom of conscience," which "the Republic ensures," just as it "guarantees the free exercise of religions," subject to respect for public order (Article 1). Second, the neutrality of the State with regard to all religions, ensured by the statement that "the Republic does not recognize, pay salaries, or subsidize any religion" (Article 2).

As the law's 120th anniversary approaches, the Grand Orient de France has launched a petition calling for the constitutionalization of these first two articles. For now, the Constitution states in its first article that "France is an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic."