Without waiting for December 9th to become an official day of secularism, the Free Thinkers of the A.D.L.P.F. have decided to celebrate this symbolic date each year.
Since 2005, the Association of Free Thinkers of France (A.D.L.P.F., a member of the World Union of Free Thinkers) has been actively lobbying and intervening to have December 9th, the anniversary of the law separating church and state, officially declared “National Secularism Day.”
The A.D.L.P.F. is pleased that this demand is now being endorsed by many organizations and that some legislators have proposed relevant laws. Naturally, they will continue to push until this rightful demand is met.
The significant symbol of dedicating this day of the year to recognize the importance of secularism in our republican institutions should not become an excuse for defending secularism just one day a year! Therefore, the A.D.L.P.F. continues its daily fight to ensure that religion remains a private matter and that its expressions do not conflict with absolute freedom of conscience. They will continue to defend the rights of those who reject religious prescriptions, in any field (sexual, dietary, clothing, etc.), especially when these contradict the law and republican principles.
By organizing various events—conferences, symposiums, commemorations, inaugurations of streets or establishments—and by joining those organized by other increasingly numerous movements, the Free Thinkers of the A.D.L.P.F have decided to make December 9th the celebration of secularism, notably by planting “trees of secularism,” as they have done for the past four years and will do again this year, in many localities.
