Latest update: 31/03/2011 

- France - religion - secularism - UMP


Sarkozy's UMP party to debate secularism - though religious leaders ask them not to

No Flash warning
To take advantage of all the features on FRANCE24.COM, please click here to download the latest version of Flash Player.

Religious leaders from France's six biggest faiths have come together to issue a joint statement, asking the ruling UMP Party not to hold a planned debate on secularism. There are fears that it could turn into a debate on Islam in France and even some senior members of the UMP are uncomfortable about the idea. However, others in President Sarkozy's party are adamant it'll go ahead, giving rise to yet more speculation about the divisions appearing within the UMP.

FOCUS
The fallout from 'Angolagate'
28/10/2009 - FOCUS

The fallout from 'Angolagate'

French authorities have come under pressure to say what they knew about the illegal sale of arms to Angola in the 1990s after a Paris court slapped jail terms and stiff fines on leading members of the French political and business establishment.
Washington seeks extradition of an Iranian man from France
28/10/2009 - FOCUS

Washington seeks extradition of an Iranian man from France

Washington is requesting the extradition of Iranian citizen Majid Kakavand, imprisoned in France for having bought "sensitive technology" for the Iranian military. The French judiciary is to provide a decision on this complex case by December.
(1) comment
French government rushes to farmers' rescue
27/10/2009 - FRANCE

French government rushes to farmers' rescue

After a wave of protests by angry farmers across the country, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has unveiled an unprecedented 650-million-euro aid package to help the industry out of its worst crisis in thirty years.
China's failure to reform 're-education' camps
27/10/2009 - CHINA

China's failure to reform 're-education' camps

In the early days of the People's Republic of China, labour re-education camps were set up to keep dissidents in check. Decades later, the camps are still open and have become a growing embarrassment for the government in Beijing.
Ben Ali makes it five in a row
26/10/2009 - TUNISIA

Ben Ali makes it five in a row

As Tunisia's Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali secured a fifth term in office, the only surprise was his failure to secure 90% of the vote. FRANCE 24's special correspondent in Tunis sent us this report on a landslide victory that had never been in doubt.

React to the article
Comment this article typing your message in the above text zone. Please note that this is limited to 1500 characters or less.
(1) Reaction

faith leaders?

by Anonyme - 23/08/2011 - 09:37

Who the hell do, these 'leaders' think they are?

They front up organisations, (or not as the case may be) that have no basis in FACT.

They peddle, and have been doing so for millennia, a fiction that has warped the mental state of both people and nations, they have resisted the development of secular Statehood wherever such ambitions have come to the fore, they have and do, represent a cancer that has proven difficult to eradicate.

Now we are being faced with the most despicable and evil of all of these systems, Islam.

Not 'evil' in the usual meaning of the word, but as a corrupting influence, that tolerates no diversion from it's tenets, with sanctions that to a rational person are both intolerable, and potentially, extremely dangerous.

The mere fact that all the main religions are ganging up to face the State gives credence to the concept, they are 'on the run' from the realisation by the people, that their pontifications no longer wear well, invoke belief, or bear sufficient fruit for their log term continuity.

The soundest base for the State will be to ignore their approach and do as any secular State should do, keep them outside the gates of the political arena.

Read more
Close