Towards a Disconnected Religion? The Catholic Church and the Secularization of Basque Culture in the French Basque Country

Based on the case of the French Basque region, this article discusses Olivier Roy’s thesis (2008) on the current disconnection between religion and culture. The French Basque Country was long one of the bastions of Catholicism in France, until far into the 1980s. In the Spanish Basque Country, the end of Francoism was followed by a quick and radical process of secularization. However, the change was a more progressive one in the French Basque Country. Despite being originally rooted in Christian democracy and personalist thinking, the Basque political and cultural movement distanced itself from the Church and from any religious reference. The reactions of the Church were manifold. Sectors of the Basque clergy and lay people campaigned in order to maintain a link between Catholicism and the Basque identity on a pluralistic basis. The Church hierarchy took a different turn after 2008, by refocusing on its religious message, fighting against relativism, restructuring the local churches thanks to extra-territorial networks, and encouraging mobilization on ethical and moral issues. As a result, confrontation increased and the gap between religion and culture widened