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Translation of the reply dated
March 5, 2009 to a written question by Senator Masson
TITLE : Infringement by the
State into the evaluation of the legitimity of religious beliefs
1716 – August 30, 2007
– Mr Jean-Louis Masson draws the attention of Mrs Minister of Interior,
Overseas and Territorial collectivities to the fact that following the
legislative elections, all written questions which had been asked under
the previous legislature and were still unanswered were declared null
and void. He asks therefore again the question which had been asked to
her predecessor on May 14, 2007 and to which the latter did not reply.
More precisely, he draws her attention to the fact that a decision taken
by the European Court of Human Rights on April 5, 2007 regards a litigation
opposing the Church of Scientology of Moscow vs. Russia. The Court established
that it did not belong to the states to evaluate the legitimity of religious
beliefs. Since France ratified the Euopean convention on Human rights,
he would like [the Minister] to state if she does not think that it would
be appropriate to make sure that bodies or commissions created by the
government to limit what some call “sectarian abuse” are obliged
not to infringe in an evaluation of the legitimity of such or such religious
beliefs.
Answer – In accordance
with its conception of laicity, expressed in article 10 of the Declaration
of human rights of 1789, the French republic cannot interfere with beliefs
to which people can freely adhere. It ensures both the protection of freedom
of conscience and the safeguarding of public order, especially in protecting
people against sectarian abuses constituent of criminal offenses. Having
respect for these equally worthwhile requirements, the State never gave
any legal definition to the notions of cult and religion. Only the unbiased
determination of facts undermining public order, goods or people, must
be used to fight against sectarian abuse. This concept is in accordance
with the decision decision taken by the European Court of Human Rights
on April 5, 2007, in the litigation opposing the Church of Scientology
of Moscow to the Russian government. The Court of Strasbourg recalled
in their decision thet the duty of neutrality and impartiality of the
State as defined by its legal decisions is incompatible with any power
on its part to evaluate the legitimity of religious beliefs. In their
action, bodies created by the State to fight against sectarian abuse refrain
indeed from any appreciation of the worth of the beliefs they have to
know about, and focus on the questions regarding the compliance with legal
and particularly criminal laws.
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