For nearly 80 years, France has prided itself on its secular identity, engraved in the French Constitution. Over the past couple of decades, secularism, deemed a universal value of French society, has been challenged in many arenas: public places, the workplace and notably at school. Some French citizens perceive secularism as discriminatory and an affront to their own personal values. Some of today's French youth see freedom of expression in the prism of 'their personal experience" rather than as a collective in society by voting or "in the way they join a group," explains Gabriel Lattanzio, Associate Professor at Sciences Po and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He asserts that, over the past 15-20 years, French youth have begun to see "their freedom in terms of how they can manifest themselves." Can freedom of expression in France, in a public arena, include religious expression and religious symbols. Or does the French Constitution demand freedom from religion in French society? Is religion in France meant to be confined to a house of worship, the home or a religious organisation. Professor Lattanzio joins FRANCE 24's François Picard to offer a deeper perspective on a very delicate subject that has sparked endless debates with no easy answer.
