When secularism is synonymous with Catholicity
This article analyses the ways in which secularism is practised on an everyday basis by political and religious authorities in Boulogne-Billancourt, a ‘bourgeois’ suburb immediately southwest of Paris. This study describes the ways in which secularism is expressed through the relationships which exist between municipal and religious leaders and how these relationships impact the construction of places of worship. Upon initial examination, municipal policy toward the three primary religious communities — Catholic, Jewish and Muslim — appears to be founded upon and sanctioned by the principles of neutrality and equality. Upon further examination, the study establishes that the relative visibility, or invisibility, of places of worship is a function of the power structure within which the relationships between religious and political authorities are embedded, and that the municipal approach to secularism is drawn from the doctrine and experience of the Catholic Church.