Haïti et le conflit des deux « France »

Abstract

In 2005, the centennial commemoration of the law separating church and state provided an opportunity for French academics to review the progress and limits of secularism in the world. Some of these works further clarified the context of the passage of this law and its consequences. Our article examines the influence of the "conflict of two Frances" on the intellectual and militant life of Haitian elites. These elites, at the end of the 19th century, had a particular interest in the course of the debates on secularism in France. Despite their Francophila and their anticlerical discourse, intellectuals and Masonic politicians in Haiti avoided following the path of France. The Concordat of 1860, signed between Haiti and the Holy See, continued to be the legal basis governing relations between the State and the Roman Catholic Church.

Keywords

• Law separating Churches and State
• Secularity of the State