The UM brings religion and the republic into dialogue

How can we reconcile religious practice and life in society, intimate convictions and respect for republican laws? At a time when public debate and current events raise more questions than they answer, the Religions and Democratic Society university diploma aims to fill students' gaps in their knowledge of the principles governing relations between the French state and religions: secularism, separation of the state...
As Professor Gérard Gonzalez, head of the DU, sums it up

the idea is to explain that France is a country in which people enjoy a very extensive freedom of religion, which implies rights but also a certain number of duties and limits...

Launched last year, this degree from the University of Montpellier, awarded by the Faculty of Law and Political Science, is open to religious leaders, while maintaining the principle of diversity, since students work alongside deacons, imams, chaplains and community workers.

A completely free diploma

This DU was initiated by the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of the Interior, in recognition of the Minister of the Interior's role as Minister of Religious Affairs. Enrolment is therefore free for all students, thanks to a subsidy paid by the Ministry of the Interior to the university. A dozen similar DU programs have been set up throughout France. "The Ministry of the Interior wants to create a network of DUs dedicated to this theme," explains Professor Gérard Gonzalez, head of the DU.
They all work on the same model: starting from a base of general teaching on the values of the republic, the training covers the major religious currents, from Christianity to Judaism, via Buddhism and Islam. It sheds light on them through history, law and sociology.