Abstract
France is a democratic, social and secular state where churches have been strictly separated from the state since 1905. There is no state religion there.
Currently, France has no official statistics to compare the numbers of members of individual churches, since the public institutions are not allowed to collect information of this nature. However, there are various surveys that are made on a representative sample of respondents.
Many studies indicate that a significant feature of the development of the French society in the 20th century is the loss of the influence of religion. Since the Second World War, the number of practising believers has been constantly decreasing.
The history of laicity in France began with the French Revolution and is complicated and full of controversy. The social processes related to secularism had, and still also have their reflection in education.
For today's schools, the law from the year 1959 is particularly important. Through contracts with the state, in which they agree to accept all children without distinction and to respect the public school curriculum, it allowed private schools to receive a guarantee of public funding, while recognizing their "own specificity".
Another important document modifying the approach to religion in public schools is the Debray report from the year 2002, which introduced the teaching of religious facts into some subjects in order to understand culture and the past and current development.