Guests of Europe 1 on Tuesday, Didier Leschi and Jean-François Colosimo criticized the separatism bill, the second reading of which began on Monday in the National Assembly.
If they welcome Emmanuel Macron's Mureaux speech, they then believe that this law will be ineffective.
They ask that the concept of secularism be put back at the center of the debates, regretting that the term is misled in particular by the extreme right.
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The bill "confirming respect for the principles of the Republic", known as the "separatism" bill, returned to the National Assembly on Monday for a second reading. And the debates promise once again to be heated. Wanted as a "marker" of the Macron five-year term, this bill provides for measures on the neutrality of the public service, the reinforced control of associations, better transparency of all religions and their funding, home education, or the fight against virginity certificates or polygamy.
Guests from Europe 1 Tuesday noon, Didier Leschi, senior official, specialist in worship, and Jean-François Colosimo, orthodox theologian, historian and essayist, gave their opinion on this bill.
Both wrote with Regis Debré the book
République ou barbarie
, which extends the debate on secularism.
The writing of the book had also been launched before the "separatism" law was brought to the fore.
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"Secularism, the way in which the state neutralizes public space"
"Secularism in France is the way in which the state neutralizes the public space, so that in the preservation of convictions and beliefs of each, we can live in common", first asked Jean -François Colosimo.
He then welcomed what is now called the "Mureaux speech", delivered by Emmanuel Macron in October 2020 to lay the foundations for the separatism bill and call for a "republican awakening".
An "excellent speech, very balanced", according to the historian because "there is the side of repression for behaviors that threaten our fundamental balances, but there is also the side of generosity. I think that's it. France ", he developed.
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But he then felt that the bill had been completely distorted.
"On the one hand, the law is going to repress all people like priests, rabbis, pastors and quite a few imams who are adept at republican practice, and it will not at all reach the people it All the separatists who have a project for a society that is fundamentally contradictory to our values, "he said.
"The fight must be waged on the intellectual level"
More generally, Didier Leschi and Jean-François Colosimo regret the turn taken by the debates in the National Assembly and then in the Senate.
"There is a loss of lucidity and a loss of common references. We come to situations where we no longer even debate," laments Didier Leschi.
Indeed, the right has multiplied the amendments, which aim to limit the wearing of the veil (neutrality for users of the public service, ban on religious symbols for its occasional employees, for school guides, at the university).
For its part, the majority blasted "the obsession with the right" and hopes, at second reading, to restore the original version of the text, largely modified by the Senate.
"These alleged defenders of secularism are arsonists"
"It is to limit the fight on the legal level while the fight must be waged on the intellectual level", meanwhile estimated Jean-François Colosimo. He also regrets that the terms "secularism", "Republic" or even "Nation" are "captured by the extremes to make them say the opposite what they want to say, and in particular by the extreme right which is pushing for identity. and instrumentalizes these terms to emit xenophobia and aversion to Islam ". "These alleged defenders of secularism are in fact arsonists," he concluded.