France domestic policy and international relation Essay

France domestic policy and international relation - Essay Example ce to 6.9 million by the year 2030, the largest group being the Sunni Muslims who form a significant percentage of Muslims in France (Pew Research Centers Religion & Public Life Project, 2011). Muslim domination in France dates back to the 9th century when the Muslims captured the cities of Southern France (Greenfield, 2014). In 1543, the Muslims expelled Christians from Toulon and converted Toulon Cathedral into a mosque (Gemie, 2010). France regained the city of Toulon briefly afterwards. Due to this growing population of Muslims and the rise in incidences of terrorist attacks associated with Muslims, France alongside most Western Europe countries have come up with policies to restrict the continued trend of increasing Muslim immigrants (Euro-islam.info, 2014). In 1872, France passed a law that prohibits the collection of information on race and beliefs as part of its population census (Cosgrove, 2011). This law ensured the coexistence of various religions and races in the country without fear of intimidation or domination (Therrien, 2007). The law gave assurance of the state’s impartiality and lack of keenness on religious practices. In 1901, France passed the law on association, the Laicite concept of the state’s involvement in religion started to come up (Unaoc.org, 2014). An enactment for the lack of involvement of spiritual affairs in government matters, and the lack of involvement of the state departments in religious issues. In 1905, France passed a law on the distinction of religion from the state, in order for France to adopt the policy of French Secularity. Adoption of Laicite is a core element of the constitution of France, which states meticulously that France is a secular state (Kuru, 2009). According to Presiden t Sarkozy, this issue of secularism made it a taboo to allow aspects of religion in state affairs (Christian Today, 2008). The president refers to this as negative secularism, referring to Islam in Riyadh as one of the most adorable