CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Religious freedom experts are decrying a recent announcement by the French government that it will deport and dissolve groups that are labeled extreme and appear to suffer from \u201creligious pathology.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\u201cIt is a gross violation, in fact a negation, of basic religious freedom for the state to determine which religious beliefs are mainstream and which are radical for the purposes of banning the latter,\u201d said Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSubjective terms such as 'radical' and 'religious pathology' open the door to the repression of beliefs and practices unpopular with the prevailing powers,\u201d Shea told CNA on Dec. 13. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\tAt a Dec. 11 conference, French interior minister Manuel Valls announced that new government surveillance policies will be aimed at shutting down religious groups including traditionalist Catholics if they show signs of a \u201creligious pathology\u201d that could lead to violence, reported Reuters.<\/p>\n
\tThe conference was held two days after French president Francois Hollande announced the creation of a new agency, the \u201cNational Observatory of Secularism,\u201d to observe and promote secularism in the nation.<\/p>\n
\tThe agency will also propose ways to promote secular values in schools. Education minister Vincent Peillon said this education must renew an emphasis on the French values of equality and fraternity.<\/p>\n
\tPeillon told a French newspaper that secularism \u201cis not about simple tolerance\u201d but is instead about \u201cunderstanding what is right and being able to distinguish good from evil.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSecular morality, he stressed, \u201cis a set of values that we have to share.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tUnder the new surveillance policy, the French government will monitor various groups for indications of a \u201creligious pathology\u201d so that officials can determine when to \u201cintervene\u201d by disbanding them or expelling them from the country before they become violent.<\/p>\n
\tA once Catholic country, France has been an officially secular nation since 1905, pushing aside faith in the public square and prohibiting sects that are seen as a threat to the public order.<\/p>\n
\tValls said at the conference that the current Socialist government sees a need to reinforce the country\u2019s secularism, known as \u201cla\u00efcit\u00e9,\u201d because it had grown lax under the nation\u2019s former president, Nicolas Sarkozy.<\/p>\n
\tReligious extremism is \u201can offense to the republic\u201d that the government cannot tolerate, he said.<\/p>\n
\tAs examples of religious extremists, he pointed to creationists, radical Islamists, strongly traditionalist Catholics and ultra-Orthodox Jews \u201cwho want to live separately from the modern world,\u201d Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
\tAccording to the news agency, Valls announced that the government will monitor Salafi Muslims, who sometimes \u201ccontrol youths seeking an identity,\u201d as well as the Catholic group Civitas, which is connected to the Society of St. Pius X.<\/p>\n
\tThe government is considering \u201cdissolving\u201d Civitas, whose protests against \u201cgay marriage\u201d and other secularist and anti-Christian policies border on \u201cthe limits of legality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tPaul Marshall, senior fellow at the D.C.-based Center for Religious Freedom and author of numerous books on religion and politics, said that France\u2019s new policy \u201cis probably aimed first of all at radical imams who teach and support violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAt the conference, Valls pointed to the murder of seven by an al-Qaeda supporter in March as an example of how religious radicalism can quickly lead to violence.<\/p>\n
\tHowever, Marshall explained, \u201cto avoid the impression that it is singling out Islam, it says it targets all religions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tA similar approach was taken when the country banned face veils, he told CNA, noting that it \u201calso restricted \u2018conspicuous\u2019 religious symbols by any religious group.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSuch policies, however, can have far-reaching consequences, Marshall warned.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe result of these restrictions is that instead of enforcing restrictions on violence, the state starts seek(ing) to extend its controls on what religious beliefs people may hold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n
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