…When I look at France, I have to admire an educational system that at least tries to give everyone a common grounding in the core principles of national life. At a time when everything is being privatized, from running elections to fighting wars, it's useful to be reminded that there is something important called "public space," beyond the market economy, and that we must protect it. In the Cartesian construct that is France, there's a place in the garden for any flower that accepts the design. But as laïcité illustrates, the formal system can be rigid and unforgiving. Individuals and groups are constrained by law in ways that have no parallel in other democracies. The French may be more multicultural in practice than in theory, but theory carries weight. In France, individuals are expected to suppress fundamental parts of themselves in public life.
This article appears in the December 2021 print edition with the headline "France's God Complex."
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/12/france-god-religion-secularism/620528/
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