Paris - France has no place for religion in public life. It is the law and has been since 1905. This secularism has a special word: Laïcité. It applies across the board to all religions.
But there has been a crystallising of debate around secularism and the practice of Islam, the second religion of France. For some, Islam is not compatible with the secular Republic. For others, the obsession with secularism excludes Muslims. Particular exception is taken to the use of two phrases: ‘Islamophobia’ and "Islamo-leftism".
In episode 4 we travel to the prestigious Sciences Po school of political studies in Grenoble, southern France, where an internal academic discussion into how to talk about Islam sparked a fierce reaction, with the university becoming a touchstone for the rest of the country.
We hear from the academics involved in the dispute as well as Muslim students who have been affected by it.
