Un geste fantôme du président. Reconfigurations dans les rapports entre l’État laïc et la religion dans l’ère post-séculière

Résumé

THE PRESIDENT’S PHANTOM GESTURE: RECONFIGURATIONS BETWEEN A SECULAR STATE AND RELIGION IN TIMES OF POST-SECULARISM

The personal attitude of the successive presidents of the Fifth Republic of France to religion, although different, did not violate the general principle of the secularity of the state. Meanwhile, the ambiguity of some gestures of president Emmanuel Macron, visible during the funeral ceremony of Johnny Hallyday, sparked protests among the laicity defenders, especially since it fell exactly on the anniversary of the 1905 law on the separation of Churches from the State. Is it possible to see in the president’s behaviour signs of striving to push the limits of secularity that seemed so far unshakeable? An analysis of Macron’s speeches, forming a kind of political theology, will allow us to feature the outlines of the new post-secular laicity that is emerging during his presidency.