France‘s governing party pressed ahead on Tuesday with a controversial debate on the nature of secularism and the challenges of Islam, an exercise criticized by some in the government and numerous religious leaders and ridiculed as cynical by both the Socialist opposition and the far-right National Front.
Held at a Paris hotel in the presence of some 600 religious leaders, legislators and journalists, the debate was shunned by prominent members of the government, and its title was altered to remove any reference to Islam, resulting in the anodyne “Secularism: To Live Better Together.”
It was three hours of debate after two months of fierce political squabbling.
Initiated by President Nicolas Sarkozy, the debate was organized by the leader of his party, the Union for a Popular Movement, Jean-François Copé. But the prime minister, François Fillon, quietly refused to take part, fearing that it would push the party too far to the right and might lead to “a stigmatization of Muslims,” he said, leading Mr. Copé to accuse him of “not being a team player.”
The concern is to help along a Westernized version of Islam that fits within the behavioral and cultural norms of France, which accept gender equality and the private nature of religious belief.
Mr. Copé said the debate was “controversial but necessary,” saying that “the values of France are like the Three Musketeers: liberty, equality, fraternity.” He would add a fourth, he said — secularism.
But critics, including Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, expressed doubts about the debate, saying “the risks are not small,” not only in feeding demagogy but also in “leading to a refusal of all religious expression in our society.”
The Council of Bishops did not take part, and the leaders of six major religions — Roman Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists — issued a joint statement expressing concern that it could “add to the confusion in the troubled period we are traversing.”
Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Council for the Muslim Faith, said, “French Muslims today are asking for indifference.”
There are estimated to be five to six million Muslims in France, about 10 percent of the population, the second-largest religion after Roman Catholicism.
Yazid Sabeg, an adviser to Mr. Sarkozy, also opposed the debate, saying the real questions for immigrants and their families were youth unemployment, ghettoization and fair access to education, not Islam.
Farid Hannache, a close aide to the moderate imam of Drancy, Hassen Chalghoumi, attended. There was a republican consensus to respect, he said. “If we don’t debate, we are cowards,” he said. “If we don’t act, we betray.”
Omar Ait Mokhtar, a film director and a governing party member, said: “It’s a very interesting debate, necessary and constructive. We North Africans are secular; there’s only a minority of fanatics.” He was skeptical at first, but found the debate worthwhile, and even brave, he said.
But there is a fierce political undercurrent. Mr. Sarkozy is trying to reunite the right by defending “French values” and talking tough on crime. With his poll ratings so low, the possibility that he will fail to win re-election next year haunts the party, and it is already causing cleavages between different camps and leading figures like Mr. Fillon and Mr. Copé, who might compete to succeed Mr. Sarkozy down the road.
In that sense, the debate is a signpost to the party’s future.
The party is also haunted by the surge in popularity of the National Front behind Marine Le Pen, the daughter of the party’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Mr. Sarkozy’s party is trying to develop a strategy for 2012 and the National Front, competing with it on issues like Islam and immigration.
Polls show that up to two-thirds of the French believe that “multiculturalism” and the integration of Muslims into society have failed, a main issue for the National Front.
A month after Ms. Le Pen compared crowds of Muslims praying in the streets outside stuffed mosques to the Nazi occupation, Mr. Sarkozy told legislators, “I don’t want any minarets, any calls for prayer in the public space, or street prayers.”
Arguing that certain religious practices were challenging secularism — the religious neutrality of the state and public life in France — Mr. Sarkozy also introduced and won passage for a law, which goes into effect next Monday, banning the full-facial veil from public spaces.
Issues debated include whether to add Islam to a 1905 law separating church and state, but allowing indirect subsidies to churches and synagogues, which are maintained with state funds. Mosques have no such benefit, and some Muslim leaders want government aid to build new mosques.
Claude Guéant, a Sarkozy confidant who is now interior minister, caused more controversy Monday when he said of Islam, “It’s true that this growth in the number of faithful in this religion and a certain number of behaviors poses a problem.”
Mr. Copé discussed some 26 proposals to preserve secularism, including a law to prohibit citizens from rejecting a public service employee because of their sex or religion.
The idea, he said, was to prevent cases where “women, often under pressure from their husbands, refuse to be treated by a male doctor.”