Marseille Defies French Secular Governmental Model

While France generally has a strong policy of separating religion from government, a front page story in today's Wall Street Journal [subscription required] tells a different story about the city of Marseille. Here there is a partnership between government and religion, and this is credited by many with keeping the city calm as demonstrations broke out elsewhere. City officials have organized the slaughter of sheep for the Muslim holiday of Eid-el-Kebir and have set aside cemetery plots for Islamic burials. Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin heads a city-funded body that unites different religious leaders in the city. City and regional bodies fund civic associations that are technically secular but often have a religious or ethnic flavor to them. Mayor Gaudin earlier this year gave municipal workers time off to mourn the death of Pope John Paul II. Authorities also fund a Jewish cultural center and have worked hard to combat anti-Semitism. Some fear that this policy will dissolve shared values and discourage integration. But city leaders say it helps defuse tension and gives them access to groups they could not otherwise reach.