French city suspends secularism for Catholic mass, derided as hypocritical

Politicians in France can’t perform their official duties during faith-based celebrations, but now a city in France argues that there should be one exception.

The French heroine, Joan of Arc, was made famous by liberating the French city of Orleans from the clutches of English in 1429, and marking a turning point in a war that had gone on for decades.

Now the Catholic saint could become embroiled during a different war that's raging in France and it's one that involves secularism.

Controversy has broken out after the elected French officials in Orleans decided to suspend secular tenets that bar officials from participating in overt religious ceremonies in their official capacity so that the mayor can attend a Catholic mass and participate within the communion.
The council of Orleans adopted a charter during which “elected officials must adhere to strict respect for republican neutrality during religious ceremonies."
But the charter made one exception to the rule during celebrations marking the Jeanne d'Arc of Arc.
In the name of tradition, one among the chief drivers of the charter on secularism said “the Johannine celebrations are at an equivalent time civil, religious and military. The Catholic practice of elected officials during the solemn mass of May 8, this has existed for tens, even many years! Let us let this tradition live, and don't pollute this essential question of secularism with this useless controversy."
That exception has raised quite a couple of eyebrows especially because the French President Emmanuel Macron and his predecessors are on a crusade to make sure that French Muslims accept "laicite," an austere interpretation of secularism practised in France. Muslims girls are banned from wearing the hijab in schools, the head covering has been banned publicly and halal meat has been condemned by France’s interior minister in a barrage of measures to urge Muslims to simply accept French notions of secularism.
One French legal scholar said of the move by the Orleans council members, “I can't stand the double standards & the hypocrisy. At a time when Muslims are being accused of violating laïcité on a day to day .”One left-wing councillor called the exception dangerous saying that “from the instant we put an exception, it no longer makes sense!”
The law of 1905 which established France’s rules around secularism states that “a representative of the Republic cannot attend, and with greater reason participate, during a religious ritual , wearing the attributes of his function.”
Initially, the aim of the law was to make sure that the powerful Catholic Church was kept cornered , however, in recent decades the law has been used against the country’s growing Muslim minority, who now number almost 5 million, the most important in northern Europe .
The country has also faced increasing criticism for weaponising its laws around secularism. Recently a personal Muslim school, the sole one in Paris which also allowed its female students to wear the headscarf was closed amidst claims of anti-Muslim prejudice by the school’s founders.
The discussion regarding the celebration round the Joan of Arc celebrations is additionally indicative that certain secularist tenets in France are in need of reform with one activist suggesting that "laicite" in France “should never be seen as an absolute.”

Discussions around secularism in France are fraught with high emotions on each side of the talk . One social media user skilled the news by saying that “secularism is for everybody ... not just Muslims.”

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While others have suggested that the tradition should be upheld as a part of French identity. What the discussion lays bare is that perhaps France’s war on signs of religion among its public officials may have gone too far.

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