“Gross error”, “insult to religions”, “historical mistake”… Critics are raining down after the images of the Hanouka ceremony organized in the Salle des Fêtes of the Élysée, Thursday evening, in the presence of Emmanuel Macron. Politicians from all sides, polemicists, historians and philosophers are unanimous in condemning an unprecedented attack on secularism. “Hanuka at the Élysée! Soon Easter, Eid?”, launched LFI deputy François Ruffin, when elected RN Laure Lavalette describes the sequence as “an unprecedented departure from secularism”. The mayor of Cannes David Lisnard wonders. “How can we refuse to participate in a civic march against anti-Semitism on the incongruous and fallacious grounds of safeguarding national unity, and celebrate a religious holiday within the presidential palace?”
While the controversy swells this Friday, the president defended himself, affirming not to regret “at all” this celebration of the Jewish Festival of Lights, organized “in a spirit which is that of the Republic and concord “. “If the President of the Republic had taken part in a religious gesture, or had participated in a ceremony, it would not be respectful of secularism. But that didn’t happen,” argued Emmanuel Maron.
What exactly does the principle of secularism say in France? This principle is enshrined in article 1 of the Constitution: “France is an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic”. Its outlines are supported in its founding law of 1905, known as “the separation of Churches and State”. This notably enshrines the equality of all citizens before the law, whatever their beliefs, but also the neutrality of the State with regard to religions. Article 2 is particularly very clear: “The Republic does not recognize, employ or subsidize any religion.” The only departure from this strict separation, apart from the specific case of the concordat regime in Alsace-Moselle, occurs in the event of a breach of public order, where the State can intervene, specifies the law of 1905. “The State wants to (…) neutral. There is no longer a legally sanctioned religion. All religions are treated equally,” concludes the Vie publique site on its page dedicated to the principle of secularism.
In view of these principles, lighting the first Hanukkah candle by the Chief Rabbi of France within the presidential palace and in the presence of the Head of State clearly appears to be a departure from secularism. “We have clearly had the recognition of a cult,” underlines the philosopher Catherine Kinzler, professor emeritus at the University of Lille-III and recognized specialist in secularism.
Constitutionalist Benjamin Morel believes that the Élysée’s approach demonstrates “total ignorance of this principle”. “The law of 1905 is sufficiently clear. Obviously, Emmanuel Macron acts as if it did not exist,” underlines the lecturer in Public Law at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, who evokes an “indefensible” act. More than ignorance, Catherine Kinzler analyzes it as a “serious institutional fault”, recalling that “no one is supposed to be ignorant of the law”.
Especially since, if Emmanuel Macron did not himself light the candle, as the chief rabbi Haïm Korsia clarified in Le Figaro – estimating that, in this context, the president did not “participate” in the act religious – the ceremony was held within the presidential palace itself, an institutional place par excellence. “Secularism is not contrary to religion in the civil space, but in the domain of public authority, yes,” recalls Catherine Kinzler. “The Élysée (…) is the residence of the head of state, the place where the Republic is embodied. If there is a place where the principle of neutrality (which is now constitutionalized) must be exercised, it is this one!”, historian Éric Anceau also reacts to X.
Before this Jewish ceremony in the presidential palace, Emmanuel Macron had “already straddled the red line” several times, according to Catherine Kinzler. The philosopher lists the attendance of the tenant of the Élysée, in his capacity as President of the Republic, at the pope’s mass in Marseille; his speech to the Catholic bishops in 2018 where the president said he wanted to “repair” the “link between Church and State”; his remarks for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, inviting Protestants to remain “the watchdog of the Republic”; or when the Head of State warned, on Christmas Eve in 2017, against a “radicalization of secularism” in the country.
Also read Can a President of the Republic go to mass?
This time, however, several historians believe that Emmanuel Macon has reached a milestone. “Since the victory of the Republicans in 1879 (after the resignation of President Mac Mahon, a fervent monarchist and ostensibly Catholic, editor’s note) never has a President of the Republic dared to celebrate a religious ceremony at the Élysée,” assures Éric Anceau. Even Charles de Gaulle, a devout Catholic, was careful to balance his attachment to the Catholic Church with his duties as a leader. According to specialist Caroline Pigozzi, the head of state had installed, at his own expense, a small chapel overlooking the main courtyard of the Élysée, but only private masses took place there. On the other hand, when General de Gaulle participated as head of state in a mass (for example in 1944 at Notre-Dame de Paris for the Liberation or in 1962 in Reims with Konrad Adenauer after the signing of the Franco-German reconciliation treaty) , he did not communicate. He made an exception during his trip to Leningrad in 1966, in a USSR deprived of religious freedom. But he never organized a mass in the Élysée Palace in his capacity as head of state. “I am not the president of Catholics but of all French people. We must not confuse the President of the Republic and the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris,” explained the General to his nephew, Father François de Gaulle, quoted by Paris Match.
This precedent risks having serious consequences, according to analysts who question the dangerous jurisprudence of the act. “By the principle of secularism in France, a citizen is a citizen, regardless of their religion. His confession is not something that is taken into account in public policies, recalls Benjamin Morel. The Élysée is the place for all citizens. We cannot bring all religions into the Élysée. Therefore, we are not passing any of them.” For the public law teacher-researcher, this event establishes serious inequality between faiths. “The president is part of a dynamic of communitarian and communitarian differentiation,” believes the constitutionalist.
An analysis echoed by the philosopher Catherine Kinzler. For her, Emmanuel Macron makes the nation “a conglomeration of communities” where “non-believers, those who claim no belonging, are harmed”. “There is a blow for the Catholics, another for the Protestants, another for the Muslims, another for the Jews,” she lists, saying she is worried about the teachers responsible for transmitting the notion of secularism to the next generations. “How will teachers go about explaining this principle in moral and civic education classes from now on?”
