I want the French people to respect values that allow each individual to practice his or her faith, but in the frame of our common rules of secularism.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
French laicite is probably aggressive and antagonistic to the religion, but there are other models of secularism in the world where there could be reconciliation between religion and secularism.
In Britain, we are not a secular state as France is, or some other countries.
Muslims in France should be able to practice their religion freely and safely.
The French have a very deep knowledge of Islam in many areas, and we can exchange views.
One of the challenges of secularism is that it's not something outside us. In too many instances, secularism has so permeated the church that sometimes it's the frame of reference even for very good people, people who have a strong allegiance to the church.
The French are very individualistic.
We are not a land of Islam, and if French citizens can be Muslims, it's on the condition to submit to habits and ways of life that the Greek, Roman influence and 16 centuries of Christianity have shaped.
I'm not Catholic. I don't believe in God. But at the same time, I'm obsessed by the sacred, by spirituality. The question of redemption has been present well before Christianity, but as French people are a bit stupid, they see all that in religious terms.
Secularism does not accept many things as absolutes. Its principal objectives are pleasure and self-interest. Often, those who embrace secularism have a different look about them.
The road to the sacred leads through the secular.
No opposing quotes found.