RELIGION-FRANCE: A MOVE TO CURB ARAB NATIONS' INFLUENCE.

by Julio Godoy

PARIS, Feb. 10 (IPS) -- The French government is attempting to reduce the Arab world's influence over Muslims here.

The "law of 1905" declared France "a secular Republic" that "does not recognise or subsidise any religion." A change would mean that the government could fund - and control - religious organisations.

Minister of the interior Nicolas Sarkozy, parliament speaker Jean-Francois Cope and other ministers say they want the law revised to lessen the financial and ideological influence of Arab states on French Muslims.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Rafarin has defended "the subtle equilibrium this major law created for the relations between the state and the nation's religious institutions." He says he wants this equilibrium to remain, without explicitly supporting or rejecting a revision.

Of about 1,000 imams practising in France, only 9 percent are French citizens. The rest come mostly from Morocco, Algeria, and Turkey. France has an estimated 5 million Muslims in a population of about 60 million.

"The state already subsidises Catholic institutes in Paris and other cities," says historian Alain Boyer. "There are subsidies for construction and maintenance of churches and temples. It would be better to modernise the law than bypass it."