"La Depeche du Midi" is not the world's largest nor most sophisticated newspaper. During the recent riots, its headline in the Aude edition was about the local rugby team winning an important match, so you can see where its heart lies.

Yesterday, however, there was a two page dossier (and two pages in the Depeche is a HUGE percentage of the paper) celebrating the 100th anniversary of the official separation of church and state in France.

It recounts how, in 1905, there were 48 embittered sessions of the Chamber of Deputies debating the issue before it was finally passed. Six months later, on the 9th of December, 1905, it was voted into law.

There are 44 articles in the law, but the first two are primary. Article 1: "The Republic guarantees the freedom of conscience. It guarantees the free exercise of religion." (Although, the term "religion" is a bit more restrictive in France, with Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses not actually considered religions, but "cults" in the American use of the word.) Article 2: "The Republic does not recognize, nor hire, nor financially support any religion."

Indeed, the State is prohibited from involving itself in any way in the domain of any religion, and, religions themselves are prohibited from involving themselves in any way in politics.

This was a hard fought battle, but freedom eventually won out over doctrine.

It was an important moment in French history, and this entire week is devoted to a variety of events commemorating its arrival. Historians remind us that this was a battle which had its roots in the Middle Ages. One of the huge successes of the French Revolution was the right to believe or not, as a citizen wished. And, the right to worship as one saw fit was part of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

For those of you who were shocked about the ban on Muslim girls wearing headscarves to school, perhaps it will help you to understand why that was an important issue here. Schools are State run, thus separate from the practice of religion. The ban was authorized with this intention and no other. It was not an attempt to ban anyone from their own beliefs, just a means of keeping religion out of a State (and thus lay) institution.

I think it's important as an American to remember how much this freedom of worship means in other countries, so that we don't lose sight of its importance in our own. We cannot allow the religious right to dominate America. It is giving up a right that has been hard fought and hard won in too few places.

Off my soapbox now.

Ciao for now!

R
(see pictures on my personal site.)

We've been mostly lucky with the weather the last few days. Yesterday, being Saturday and market day, we started out with rain. Fortunately, it had all cleared up by late morning and turned into spectacular day.

Because this weekend is the big, national Telethon weekend, there are all kinds of activities in just about every village in France. I think this is a French version of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, with money going for muscular dystrophy and other neuro-muscular diseases, but I'm not 100% sure!

There are a lot of various charitable events that go on here throughout the year. For example, there was just a two-week long thing where people came to the door selling Brioche to fund research for mental illness. And, there are always raffles for local causes. Not to mention the fire department coming around to sell its calendar to fund their services. I should point out that our fire department is a volunteer department and NOT a professional department like in big cities.

All of these events mean that there are usually activities happening all over the place. We decided to go to a used book sale in Rouffiac on the way to Carcassonne. Well, as odd as it may seem, there appear to be TWO Rouffiacs in our department. We must have gone to the wrong one, because there was not a book to be seen.

Still, the day was so beautiful that we figured we'd go somewhere that we've been meaning to visit since February: Montolieu, the book village!

Montolieu is a very pretty village in the Montagnes Noir on the other side of Carcassonne. They have a large selection of used book stores, and we went to one that was quite large with a great choice of books. JM had brought along the books we'd planned to eventually sell if we opened our own used bookstore in Chalabre, which we've given up on for now. He traded those for some things he's been wanting to add to his collection. Then, we had a lovely walk through the village. I'm pleased to say that as nice as Montolieu was, we had no regrets of not choosing it for our home. Chalabre still remains number one in our hearts.

We drove back through Fanjeau, where we had looked for houses when we first came here last year. We always enjoy that drive because it reminds us of when we made the decision that this was the region for us. We stopped in Mirepoix to drop a painting off for re-framing and got to see some of their Telethon activities. I must say that Maggie was not amused, as we arrived during a demonstration by the fire department who appeared to have set something large on fire. It was loud, smelly and smoky; a combination guaranteed to create distress in the Border Collie population of the family.

Then, a quick trip to the SuperU for soap powder and a return home, capping off another great day in the Shire.

Ciao for now!

R
(see pictures on my personal site.)