Despite achieving constitutional separation from the Catholic Church after much
bloodshed, the French state is still subservient to the Church when it comes to child abuse
The 120th anniversary of France's landmark law codifying the separation of Church and state was commemorated last month. The 1905 law's ideological origin was of course the Revolution of 1789, which sought to end, through the establishment of a republic, the corruption and excessive power of the monarchs, the aristocracy and the Catholic Church.
However, France wasn't the first jurisdiction to make religious freedom a right and forbid state support for religion – the US state of Virginia was. There, the Anglican Church was established just as it was, and still is, in England. Virginia's stance formed the template for the first amendment to the US Constitution in 1789, thanks to visionaries James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, the latter of whom devoted his life to replicating these concepts in other countries, starting with France.
Now, nearly 250 years later, let's examine what has been achieved, and what still needs to be done.
In 1789 after much bloodshed, French citizens managed to form a unicameral National Assembly . . .
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