Droit et Cultures (Jun 2006)
Prières et service public
Abstract
The mark of the separation between the Church and the State seems sufficiently strong in France so that the points of contact between the civil service and prayer are rare and rather indirect, starting with behaviours which do not have in general aim to oppose the sole act of prayer to the legal and social standards surrounding (First part). Nevertheless the legal systems and practices of other countries of Europe reveal the pragmatic judgements of the European Court of Human Rights and their comparable reserve, even if their base is necessarily different (Second part). As a whole, the decisions of the Court make it possible to note that the Member States of the Council of Europe sometimes have restrictive attitudes with regard to the prayer which depend either on a kind of protection of the dominant religion compared to the minority worships, or on an implicit refusal of atheism. On the other hand, the concept of public utility, not being universally recognized in Europe, does not provide a legal framework of reasoning in the cases. So, it is possible to identify the relationship between prayers and public service only by the means of the context in which occur the acts of prayer.
