Editing Culture of France (section)

===Catholicism===
{{Main|Roman Catholicism in France}}
[[File:Reims Cathédrale Notre-Dame 5002 (fixed angles).jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Notre-Dame de Reims façade, gothic stone cathedral against blue sky|[[Reims Cathedral|Notre-Dame de Reims]] is the Roman Catholic cathedral where the [[Coronation of the French monarch|Kings of France were crowned]] until 1825.<ref name="bak1">{{cite book|last=Giesey|first=Ralph E.|title=Coronations: Medieval and Early Modern Monarchic Ritual|editor=Bak, János M|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|year=1990|chapter=Inaugural Aspects of French Royal Ceremonials|url=http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft367nb2f3&brand=ucpress|access-date=25 September 2008}}</ref>{{Efn-ur|The last ''sacre'' was that of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]], 29 May 1825.}}]]

Long the established state religion, the [[Catholic Church]] has historically played a significant role in French culture and in French life. Kings were prominent members as well as head of the state and social order. Most French people are Catholics;<ref>{{Cite book|title = World and Its Peoples|url = https://archive.org/details/worlditspeoplese0010unse|url-access = registration|publisher = Marshall Cavendish|date = 1 January 2010|isbn = 9780761478874|language = en|page = 245}}</ref> however, many of them are secular but still place high value on [[Catholicism]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ferrara|first=Carol|date=2 October 2019|title=The Catholic-ness of Secular France|url=https://www.europenowjournal.org/2019/10/02/the-catholic-ness-of-secular-france/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-30|website=www.europenowjournal.org|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425090848/https://www.europenowjournal.org/2019/10/02/the-catholic-ness-of-secular-france/ |archive-date=25 April 2020 }}</ref>

The [[Catholic]] faith is no longer considered the [[state religion]], as it was before the [[French Revolution|1789 Revolution]] and throughout the various, non-republican regimes of the 19th century (the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Restoration]], the [[July Monarchy]] and the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]]). The institutional split of the Catholic Church and French State ("Séparation de l'Eglise et de l'Etat") was imposed by the latter in 1905 and represented the crest of a wave of the laicist and [[anti-clericalist]] movement among French Radical Republicans in this period.

At the beginning of the 20th century, France was a largely rural country with conservative Catholic mores, but in the hundred years since then, the countryside has become depopulated as people have become urbanized. The urban populations have become more secular. A December 2006 poll by Harris Interactive, published in ''[[The Financial Times]]'', found that 32% of the French population described themselves as agnostic, some 32% as [[atheist]], and only 27% believed in any type of God or supreme being.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=usurped |url=http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14255 |title=Religion Important for Americans, Italians |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707022910/http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14255 |archive-date=7 July 2007 |website=Angus Reid Global Monitor |date=16 December 2008}}</ref> according to the French Market research [[Ipsos]], Catholics today constitute 57.5% of the French population.<ref name="IPSOS">''[https://web.archive.org/web/20171019192134/https://www.reforme.net/actualite/societe/sondage-les-protestants-en-france-en-2017-1-qui-sont-les-protestants/ Les Protestants en France en 2017]'' Ipsos.</ref>