Switzerland: Failure of the secularization of state movement in Valais
The Association “for a secular Valais” was forced to withdraw the popular movement “for a secular state” on May 19th. The leaders of the movement were only able to gather 2000 signatures over a year, out of the 6000 necessary to have the right to organize a referendum on the question.
The Constitution of Valais and the law of Churches and State of 1991 stipulate that the status of public right is recognized for the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformed Evangelical Church. The objective of this initiative was to bring Valais to adopt the principle of separation of Church and State, as in France since 1905 and in the Swiss cantons of Neuchatel and Geneva. Thus the State of Valais could no longer require all taxpayers to fund these two recognized religions. Moreover, religious instruction would have been taken over by religious organizations and withdrawn from schools.
Supported by socialist Valais youth movements and the young liberal-radicals of Bas-Valais, the movement was severely criticized by the local representatives of the PDC (Christian Democrats) and the UDC (Democratic Union of Centre). On the website of daily Le Matin, the PDC condemned it as an “anti-Christian initiative” on June 14, 2015, while the UDC called its leaders the “Taliban of secularization that will prove the basis for Islamism.”
(Sources: kipa-apic.ch – Le Matin – DICI no.316 June 5, 2015)
