The spiritual panorama in France has undergone profound diversification because the 1905 regulation on the separation of church and state, in response to an article by Kekeli Koffi revealed on religactu.fr. In addition to the 4 faiths formally acknowledged within the early twentieth century – Catholicism, Reformed and Lutheran Protestantism, and Judaism – new religions have emerged.
“Islam, Buddhism, and Orthodoxy have established themselves, giving France the standing of the European state with the biggest variety of Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist believers,” writes Koffi. Though official information on people’ spiritual affiliation has not been collected since 1872, an overview of the present state of affairs may be sketched:
- Catholicism stays the predominant religion in France, though its affect has declined considerably because the Eighties. Presently, over 60% of the inhabitants identifies as Catholic, however solely 10% observe actively.
- Atheism and agnosticism are steadily rising, with almost 30% of French individuals declaring themselves non-religious.
- Islam is the second largest faith in France, with an estimated 5 million Muslims – each practising and non-practicing – constituting about 6% of the inhabitants.
- Protestantism accounts for two% of the inhabitants, roughly 1.2 million people.
- Judaism has round 600,000 followers (1%), principally of Sephardic descent.
- There are 300,000 Buddhist believers in France, primarily of Asian origin, plus 100,000 others, bringing the entire to 400,000.
Koffi notes that different spiritual actions additionally present vitality, regardless of controversies. Amongst them, Hindus are estimated at some 150,000, Jehovah’s Witnesses at 140,000, Scientologists approaching 40,000, and Sikhs totalling some 30,000, concentrated in Seine-Saint-Denis.
This altering panorama raises questions concerning the relevance of outdated fashions for managing faith, concludes Koffi. Whereas the 1905 regulation itself appears in a position to stand up to time and alter, establishments just like the Ministry of Inside’s Bureau of Faiths haven’t tailored to the brand new actuality and proceed working as if solely a handful of faiths existed in France.