The French Revolution: A Case of Church, State, and Expression

Today was great-- after 10 hours of sleep last night, I finally feel caught up after my amazingly busy weekend of travels.

I decided to wash my sheets when I woke up this morning, but as French washing machines hold approximately 3 pairs of jeans (and that's a tight squeeze) I had to do two loads-- one for the duvet cover, and one for the sheets and pillow cases. Alas-- who knew French washing machines also take 3 hours to do a single load. You think I would have noticed before now (I promise I have been doing my laundry), but I guess I simply hadn't noticed before. All this means I will be sleeping sheet-less tonight, and that Annie and I's apartment looks like a kid's fort with sheets and duvet covers draped over every available surface. Live and learn I suppose.

Anyway... the subject of my blog entry: The French Revolution, as decided upon after I learned some interesting information about French culture the other day in class.

The cause of the French Revolution is debated in academic circles around the world. Some attribute it to the intellectual currents circulating after the enlightenment, some to the ever-expanding power of the church, others to unfair taxes on the peasants, and still more to the corrupt monarchy and aristocracy. Whatever the case (and if you were to ask a scholar of the French Revolution, he/she would probably say it was a combination of all these factors and more), the French people entered into a tumultuous time in their history when in 1789 they charged the Bastille in Paris and set the revolution in motion. This included a rule of Tyrants, the beheading of King Louis XVI and his famous wife Marie Antoinette, and the even more famous rule of Napoleon.

While all this was happening, the French were debating how to handle the Catholic church. Their government and the church had once been intricately intertwined, but now with "power to the people", how would the church sustain itself without the once mandatory taxes and pittances it demanded?

Fast forward 200 years, and you will see a France that fully embraces the idea of separation of church and state. Natalie was lecturing in class the other day, and went on a tangent about those of the Islamic faith wearing headdresses at schools (we were discussing how to say "I went to school" and "I was going to school" in French-- there are two different past tenses in the language-- somehow this led to an intense discussion about the degree of separation between church and state in our home countries).

Anyway-- here is the interesting cultural tid-bit. French school children are not allowed to wear anything to school as a sign of faith. No cross necklaces. No pins in the shape of the star of David. And no covering for those of the Islamic faith. Nothing. The French Revolution took the country so far as to say in order for everyone to be equal, there can be no representation of your faith in a place like public school

Once you enter university, you are thought to have a mind of your own outside of your parents (a.k.a. you make your own decisions now), and therefore, you are allowed to wear signs of religion.

I was wondering how Americans would react to such rules. It seems to be that it is an encroachment on the freedoms outlined in the first amendment, essentially your freedom of expression.

But then again, I was thinking about rules imposed upon myself when I was in public school-- mainly one rule: you were not allowed to have hair that was not a natural color. This rule was clearly outlined in all the handbooks, and when an unfortunate rebel would dare to dye his/her hair green/pink/blue, they would inevitably be sent to the principle's office and return to school the next day with a hair of "normal" color.

In this instance, the school was encroaching upon my and the other students freedom of expression by saying hair of unnatural color distracted other students from learning. Is this truly that different from the French saying signs of religion "distract" students from learning? I know it seems odd to pit pink hair against God, but it made me think.

Possibly, our countries are not that different when it comes to a freedom of expression (one stemming from a desire to remove the church completely from public life, and another stemming from some school official wanting to define blonde/brown/black/red as the "normal" hair colors). But possibly, the French forcing someone to step outside the rules of their religion in order to make a level playing field for all means that culture and individuality are lost. But then again, when the school says I can't have green hair, am I losing some of my indivudality (although it is arguable not as important as my faith)? Have the French gone too far, or just far enough?

What do you think?