Laicite in the private sphere? French religious liberty after the baby-loup affair

Abstract

While the French laicite principle has traditionally been understood as a principle of state neutrality, in recent decades it has increasingly been invoked against certain expressions of private religiosity in public space. However, while laicite as a political discourse now extends well beyond a purely institutional concept of neutrality, legal doctrine has proven resistant, at least to an extent, to this more expansive concept. In this article, I discuss how these conflicts and ambiguities concerning the scope and application of the laicite principle were crystallized in recent, controversial litigation concerning the dismissal of a headscarf-wearing employee in a private creche. I will argue that while the Baby-Loup affair confirms that laicite as such has not officially been extended to the private sphere, equally it illustrates important limits in the resilience of the traditional public-private distinction.