freedom of conscience

***LA CROIX
30/07/2009

Joseph Maila explains the final purpose of his mission, at the head of the Pole Religions, Quai d’Orsay, and its functioning.

You lead the new « Pole Religions », created on 1^{st of June within the direction of analysis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What does it means?}

JM: This is the result of an initiative of Bernard Kouchner, announced on 28 August 2008 in front of the conference of ambassadors, that is done within the project of modernization of the Ministry, launched at the following of the publication of the white book that was focused on the necessity to take in account new parameters in the international relationships, like the pandemic, the durable development, financial crisis or religions. The religion fact plays an important role in the relationships between nations, the questions of development or internal political equilibrium. The Pole Religion is part of the Direction of Prospective, that comes after the Centre d’Analyse et de Prevision. It is composed of six members, whom some who are in charge of missions, and of specialists recruited regarding their competences. The Pole includes also the council for religious affairs (CAR), a function created around 1920, after the normalization of diplomatic relationship between France and Holy-See, and occupied by a diplomat.

What is your role?

Our first mission is an alertness and anticipation one. Through the observations and analysis of trends and movements that affect religions all over the world. That work of prospective concerns questions as various as the expansion of evangelic Protestantism, the weigh of orthodoxy in Russia, Islam and Islamism, the religious dimension of the protestation in Iran – especially in the debate within the high Clerical Shiite on the principle of “Velayat-e-faqih”-, Hinduism and its impact on Indian nationalism, or the great debates on laicity in Europe. Other example: we are currently working on a possible condemnation in France of the Church of Scientology and its diplomatics following. The Pole Religion will also follow the positions taken and the orientations of religions on the great international questions like Human Rights, the racial discrimination, the bioethics, the notions of defamation of religions and freedom of religion, the inter religious dialog and inter-culture. In September, a conference Asia-Europe on religions should be held at Seoul and the Pole will be there. More than that, the Pole will help diplomats to explain the position of France on the multi-culture question, the French model of laicity and the wearing of Niqab and the Burqa, underlining that, especially France defends the equality between men and women. Then, we must go with the active diplomacy and the geographical directions of the Ministries on hot files. Religion is often something where conflicts start and also the solution of such conflicts, no matter if this is about difference between Shiite or Sunism in Irak, of Afghanistan or Pakistan. At last, the Pole will contribute to the sensitization and information to diplomats, to the religious questions with the perspective to work on mediation or negotiations between inter racial and inter-religious conflicts; A round table dedicated to the place of religions in the globalization will be organized during the conference of ambassadors, from the 26 to 28 August.

Does the Pole will supervise the institutional relations with religions, for example, the relations with the Holy See and some other great religious authorities?

Within the Pole Religions, the counselors of religious affairs will conserve all its specificity in the active diplomacy, o matter if it is about relations with Vatican or with authorities or foreigner religious organizations. That diplomat stay in charge of the welcome of the religious personalities in France, represents France in the international conferences on the religious questions and has especially participated to the negotiation of an agreement between France and the Holy See regarding the recognition of the university certificates.

Some people see in the creation of that Pole, a new sign of the “positive laicity” pushed by Nicolas Sarkozy. What do you think about that?

The final purpose of the Pole remains in the political and diplomatics field, at the service of the French interests. French diplomacy remains behind the laical valors and defends the republican specificities. It doesn’t avoid the French diplomacy to do statements about religions in the globalization, about propositions coming from religious groups about the separation between State and religion.