Religious Freedom in a Secular Society: The Case of the Islamic Headscarf in France

Abstract

One of the most interesting examples in recent years of a confrontation between secular and religious values occurred in France in the so-called 'affair of the headscarf'. The affair can be traced back to events in 1989, which were followed by a further series of events during the 1990s. It started when a public school in Creil, a town in northern France, expelled three Muslim schoolgirls for refusing to remove the Islamic headscarves they wore to school. This chapter will discuss some of the significant events in the affair of the headscarf, including the 1989 legal opinion delivered by France's highest administrative court, the Conseil d'Etat, which stated the legal principles to be followed in resolving the disputes, as well as key ministerial circulars issued to explain how the legal opinion was to be applied and the case law from the appeals brought by many of the expelled schoolgirls. The chapter will also consider the development of secularism in France and the notion of rights and duties, which was integral to the doctrine of secularism, as emphasised in the 1989 legal opinion and then applied in the 'headscarf' case law. Finally, this chapter will consider some lessons that can be learned from the affair of the headscarf in France: should a government legislate against clothing and what issues arise in relation to such legislation? How might religious freedoms be best protected? Should religious protections (or indeed secularism itself ) be narrowly or broadly defined? I also note some events that have occurred in Australia in recent years which raise similar questions to those considered in relation to the French affair of the headscarf: what does secularism mean in a country such as Australia and what might be its implications for cultural and religious freedom and restrictions on such freedom?