VOL NO REGD NO DA 1589

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

HEADLINE

POLITICS & POLICIES

METRO & COUNTRY

VIEWS & REVIEWS

EDITORIAL

LETTER TO EDITOR

COMPANY & FINANCE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

TRADE/ECONOMY

LEISURE & ENTERTAINMENT

MARKET & COMMODITIES

SPORTS

WORLD

 

FE Specials

FE Education

Urban Property

Monthly Roundup

Saturday Feature

Asia/South Asia

 

Feature

13th SAARC SUMMIT DHAKA-2005

WOMEN & ECONOMY

57th Republic Day of India

US TRADE SHOW

 

 

 

Archive

Site Search

 

HOME

WORLD
 
Fears over mosque funding revive French church-state debate
11/1/2005
 

          PARIS, Oct 31 (AFP): A call for a change to a century- old French law to allow the state to fund new mosques has sent sparks flying in a society deeply attached to the separation of religion and state.
Concerned that a shortage of mosques is allowing extremists to gain a foothold among France's 5.5 million Muslims by funding places of worship, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this month named a panel to look into the prickly question.
Due to report to the government in June next year, the committee is being asked, among other things, to suggest ways of reviewing the 1905 secularity law that bans the state from funding places of worship.
The initiative placed Sarkozy squarely at odds with both President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who sees the century-old law as one of the pillars of our republican system and rejects the idea of updating it.
True, more work is needed to recognise the rightful place of France's Muslims, Villepin said, but as members of a strictly secular community.
The two men, rivals both aiming for the presidency in 2007, tried to smooth over their differences on this and other matters at a joint press conference this week.
Sarkozy has repeatedly argued that breaking the French taboo to provide public money for mosques and imams would be the best way of bringing the Muslim community into the mainstream, out of the garages and basements it is often forced to use as unofficial prayer rooms.
"To separate French Islam from foreign influences," he said last month, "let us give it the means to be independent."
Islamic radicals are already thought to control 20 mosques in the country, according to France's domestic intelligence service, which also says militants are increasingly congregating in secret prayer-rooms, out of sight of the authorities.
A year after a hotly-disputed ban on Muslim headscarves and other religious signs came into force in French schools, the debate on funding is the latest in a string of delicate negotiations between France's government and its large Muslim minority.

 

 
  More Headline
Koizumi picks conservatives as top ministers
Malnutrition set to kill more in Pakistan quake zone: WFP
Rebels kill Iraqi VP's brother
Musharraf wants troops out of quake-hit Kashmir
Bosnian explorer finds 'Europe's first pyramids'
UN set to vote on Syria sanctions draft
Ahmadinejad calls for democracy for Palestinians
Australia opens visa doors for students and workers
Six Indians, one Pakistani to die for Red Fort attack
London most expensive European city
Fears over mosque funding revive French church-state debate
Twin of Poland's president-elect refuses PM post
N Korea wants UN dev assistance, not humanitarian aid
 

Print this page | Mail this page | Save this page | Make this page my home page

About us  |  Contact us  |  Editor's panel  |  Career opportunity | Web Mail

 

 

 

 

Copy right @ financialexpress.com