L’usage du référent chrétien dans le débat public contemporain en France: Essai de typologie

The use of the Christian referent in contemporary public debate in France raises the question of the imaginary to which societies have recourse in order to construct their memory and establish their foundation. The contents of these representations and mental configurations give meaning to collective coexistence and can evolve over time, under the effect of changes in social structures, mobilization strategies carried by elites, and the demands of public opinion. The situation in contemporary France illustrates these changes. Until the 1980s, the “civil religion” produced by the governmental elites in such a way as to consolidate the political bond did not match the “common religion” lived by the populations: Christianity, at least in its Catholic form, remained outside the official mode of representation of society. The situation has changed in recent decades. By a kind of paradox, while the Church sees its social audience regressing, Christianity becomes again central in the image that France intends to give of itself. In this article, we would like to describe, in a typological way, the forms of this newfound alliance, based on public discourse over the last forty years. An immediate examination of contemporary elaborations leads us to identify three essential figures - culturalist, foundationalist, deliberative - of the articulation of politics and religion, distinct from the rationalist paradigm of the Third Republic. The developments in these pages will attempt to test this pluralist hypothesis.