French Beliefs
A brief religious history of France.
Pre-Christian Faiths of France
Before the spread of Christianity into Europe, the Gallic people of France practiced faiths descended from Indo-European traditions. This Celtic religion recognized a polytheistic pantheon, though relatively little is known about its deities and customs. They passed their knowledge down orally, held in memory by a priestly druid class. When the Romans conquered Gaul in the 1st century BCE, the two polytheistic faiths blended together. Some Celtic gods, such as the protector Lenus, were associated with Roman gods like Mars, becoming Lenus Mars. Others remained independent. The Celtic horse goddess Epona, for example, found new worshippers in Rome.
Catholicism and the Franks
The decline of the Roman Empire left much of Europe open to Germanic conquest. The Gallo-Roman peoples were gradually overtaken by groups like the Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks. Over time, the Franks under Clovis I formed a large series of kingdoms centered on Paris. In 496, Clovis voluntarily adopted Catholicism. The Franks cultivated an alliance with the papacy, providing military power in exchange for legitimacy. Through the efforts of rulers like Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, and Charlemagne, they consolidated power and gradually converted local peoples to Christianity. Their devotion was further strengthened by the threat of Islamic armies on the neighboring Iberian Peninsula.
Religion remained central to French culture throughout the Middle Ages. During the Hundred Years’ War, fought between 1337 and 1453, a young woman known as Joan of Arc claimed to be led by the voices of saints and angels. Her role as a leader of French forces against the English transformed her into a national symbol. In 1431, after being captured and put on trial by the English, she was executed for the heresy of cross-dressing. Fear of heresy and witchcraft led to significant conflict within the kingdom in this period. The Cathar movement, which viewed God and Satan as more of a duality than Catholic doctrine, was violently suppressed in Southern France. The Knights Templar, a military order founded during the Crusades, met its end between 1307 and 1314 at the hands of King Philip IV.
The Protestant Reformation in France
Protestantism left its mark on France like most of Europe, but the kingdom remained majority Catholic. The Calvinist branch of Protestantism found sympathy primarily among the French upper classes. Converts became knowns as the Huguenots, whose numbers peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries. The social status of many Huguenots offered some protection against the strictly Catholic monarchy, but tensions soon boiled over. The French Wars of Religion took place between 1562 and 1598, complicated by dynastic politics and foreign intervention. In 1572, Queen Catherine de Medici organized the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre, killing Huguenot leaders as they gathered for a royal wedding. The massacre lasted for weeks, radiating outward from Paris. By the end of the conflict, a large number of the surviving Huguenots had fled the country.
The French Revolution and Napoleon’s Empire
Catholicism in France faced a new challenge in the 18th century as Enlightenment philosophy grew popular among its educated classes. These philosophers resented the power, wealth, and influence of the Church in French society. When their ideas transformed into revolution, the Catholic Church lost its privileged status and much of its property in France. As priests and nuns went to trial, the revolution began to lose the goodwill of the public. Napoleon Bonaparte worked to bring Catholicism back to France, but his efforts ended with excommunication and the imprisonment of Pope Pius VII. Despite this, Napoleon sought and received forgiveness from the Church while in his final exile.
Modern Worship in France
Today, the people of France follow many different religions. During the colonial period of the 19th and 20th centuries, the nation received an influx of Jewish and Muslim citizens. It is now home to Europe’s largest populations of both religions. Religious conflicts still exist within the nation, alongside rising rates of non-belief. The state’s policy of laïcité, or secularism, attempts to strike a balance between different religious interests, sometimes leading to political controversies.
Christian (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic) 63-66%
None 23-28%
Muslim 7-9%
Buddhist 0.5-0.75%
Jewish 0.5-0.75%
Other 0.5-1.0%
References
Bergin, Joseph. The Politics of Religion in Early Modern France. Yale University Press. 2014.
Haine, W. Scott. The History of France. Greenwood Press. 2000.
Hewitt, Nicholas. The Cambridge Companion to Modern French Culture. Cambridge University Press. 2003.
Nossiter, Adam. “'They Spit When I Walked in the Street': The 'New Anti-Semitism' in France.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 July 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/world/europe/france-new-anti-semitism.html.
Peters, D.J. A Short History of France. Elsevier. 2014.
Piser, Karina. “French Secularism Is in Crisis. What Does That Mean for Muslim Youth?” The Nation, The Nation Company, 10 Jan. 2018, www.thenation.com/article/french-secularism-is-in-crisis-what-does-that-mean-for-muslim-youth/.
Small, Graeme. Late Medieval France. Palgrave Macmillan. 2009.
“The World Factbook: France.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 4 June 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fr.html.
Woolf, Greg. Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul. Cambridge University Press. 2000.
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