Secularism is often the object of ignorance or even misinterpretation, which weakens it. However, only a well-understood secularism is an accepted and well-implemented secularism, says Jean-Paul Delahaye, national administrator of the League of Education in charge of secularism.
Why this booklet for parents of students?
With the FCPE, the Education League is part of the National Secular Action Committee (Cnal) which in 2018 questioned teachers on secularism at school. In this survey conducted with IFOP, they tell how they experience it, their difficulties and their successes, but they also clearly say that there is a lack of a tool to explain to parents what secularism is at school. The FCPE therefore had the idea of this booklet (1) that we developed in partnership.
Is secularism still struggling to be understood by parents?
It is often the object of ignorance or even misinterpretation, which weakens it. However, only a well understood secularism is an accepted and well implemented secularism. Unfortunately, it is also the subject of controversy at the national level and is sometimes found instrumentalized. Parents end up not knowing what secularism is.
To understand secularism, you have to learn it?
Of course, but be careful, secularism cannot be learned like a lecture. There are certainly things to know like dates and laws. But secularism, which is not an opinion but a legal principle and a framework allowing each citizen to have religious convictions, not to have them or to change them, it is first of all a freedom. At school, she experiments with projects led by teachers in a remarkable way. At home, this booklet for parents’ use gives the keys to understanding the principle of secularism and deciphers its application at school with concrete examples. As co-educators, parents also have to transmit to their children the values and principles of the secular Republic.
(1) To be downloaded from the FCPE website.
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