Overview
- Adopted on 9 December 1905, the law guarantees freedom of conscience and ends state recognition or financing of religions, and France is marking its 120th anniversary.
- Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu paid tribute at Aristide Briand’s tomb in a restrained commemoration, as reporting notes the once broad agreement around the law has weakened.
- Later measures have shaped practice: a 2004 ban on ostentatious religious signs in public schools and a 2021 law tightening oversight of religious groups and extending neutrality obligations to some public-contract workers.
- The milestone has triggered fresh analysis, including a major Fondation Jean‑Jaurès study, along with civil‑society warnings against instrumentalising laïcité as surveillance or as a tool targeting Muslims.
- International coverage contrasts France’s strict state neutrality with Anglo‑American pluralism, highlighting recurring misunderstandings about visible religious expression in public life.