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French threat to securalism

The tragedy in Oslo has ignited discussion about securalism, anti-Muslim attitudes and multiculturism across Europe. France 24 reports on a development in France which raises the critical issue of securalism in that country:

"On Tuesday, France's highest administrative court handed down a final ruling on five cases involving the public use of funds for religious purposes. Religious scholars say the place of Islam in French society is at stake.

In June 2007 an administrative court in western France blocked 380,000 euros the city of Le Mans wanted to use to set up a Halal slaughterhouse. The court ruled that the space was meant for religious practices and, according to France’s 1905 law on the separation of church and state, it could not be built with taxpayer money. Outraged, the city of Le Mans appealed the ruling to France’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, arguing that the slaughterhouse served local obligations to ensure public health and hygiene.

On Tuesday, the Council handed down a final ruling on the Le Mans slaughterhouse and four other cases. Each one involved the use of public funds for religious purposes, and was seen as a challenge to France’s strict secularism. But every decision turned out favourable to religious groups. The slaughterhouse project is back on track.

The rulings, which also considered disputes over the installation of an access elevator for a Catholic basilica, the restoration of a church organ and the use of public spaces for two different mosque projects, have gone mostly unnoticed. Even if some in France were quick to sound alarm bells."

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