French cardinal says law banning religious symbols is 'unenforceable'

Published: 2004-01-30

MARSEILLE, France (CNS) -- A French cardinal said a proposed law banning religious symbols from state schools "appears to be unenforceable." Cardinal Bernard Panafieu of Marseille said the state would be "better to act through persuasion than by compulsion" if it wanted to control the use of religious symbols in its schools. A draft of the proposed law was scheduled to be presented to parliament Feb. 3; it would ban the wearing of Muslim veils, Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps from state schools beginning in September. In a statement to French newspapers, Cardinal Panafieu said France's 1905 church-state separation law led to the closure of religious orders and severing of ties with the Vatican, but later helped safeguard religious freedom and human rights. He said the status quo recently had been questioned by Muslim immigrants unaccustomed to a "lay, pluralist society." The cardinal said he believed it would be wrong to use laws to prevent immigrants from "asserting their identity."

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .