Religion
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France is a secular country in which freedom of religion is a constitutional right. The French policy on religion is based on the concept of laïcité, a strict separation of church and state under which the government and public life are kept completely secular, detached from any religion. The region of Alsace and Moselle, which was part of the German Empire when state secularism was established in France, is an exception to the general French norm since the local law stipulates official status and state funding for Lutheranism, Catholicism, and Judaism.[269]
Catholicism has been the main religion in France for more than a millennium, and it was once the country's state religion.[270] Its role nowadays has been greatly reduced; nevertheless, in 2012, among the 47,000 religious buildings in France 94% were Catholic churches.[271] After alternating between royal and secular republican governments during the 19th century, in 1905 France passed the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, which established the aforementioned principle of laïcité.[272]
The government is prohibited from recognising specific rights to any religious community (with the exception of legacy statutes like those of military chaplains and the aforementioned local law in Alsace-Moselle). It recognises religious organisations according to formal legal criteria that do not address religious doctrine, and religious organisations are expected to refrain from intervening in policymaking.[273] Some religious groups, such as Scientology, the Children of God, the Unification Church, and the Order of the Solar Temple, are considered cults (sectes in French, which is considered a pejorative term[274]) and are not granted the same status as recognised religions.[275]