ABSTRACT
In 2001, France ranked sixth among countries that limited religious freedom through legal and social measures, according to Le Monde. 1 As a direct consequence of the Guyard Report and the Picard/About law, France joined a rogue’s gallery that included countries such as China, Indonesia, Sudan, Nigeria, and Turkmenistan. The fierce intolerance of the government-sponsored watchdog bureaucracy—MILS (Interministry Mission for the Fight Against Sects)—was reflected in a statement made at the National Assembly debate over the About/Picard law, which was adopted on May 30, 2001: “It is unfortunate that we cannot have a grand soir of sects which would allow us to regulate everything all at once.” 2 In France the term grand soir refers to terrible moments in history: the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, or the mass immolations of the French Revolution.
