Secularist Group Charges Large French Subsidies To Religion Exist

A report by La Libre Pensee, a coalition of French secularist organizations, claims that despite the strict separation of church and state required by a 1905 law, the French government is subsidizing religion in amounts equal to billions of Euros. A posting today by Britain's National Secular Society discusses the details. The national government's payments, supplemented by local appropriations, give largely Catholic private schools 9.2 billion Euros in aid. In the Department of Alsace Moselle, which is not covered by the 1905 law, additional amounts are paid to priests to teach religion in state schools. Also salaries of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish clergy in Alsace are being paid with government funds. Throughout France, religious tax exemptions, subsidies to pro-life associations, contributions to the priests' health care system, and local payments for housing of diocesan priests all add to governmental subsidization of religion.