Diversite: Challenging or constituting laicite?

The debates on laicite in France have been capped by a claim that French cultural imaginary laicite has reasserted itself against the new challenge of diversity', this new challenge explicitly being contrasted to the old challenge of the Catholic Church. There have been plenty of references to the French Third Republic during these debates, yet these references fail to recognise that in fact the concept of diversite was part of the discussions on laicite during the Third Republic. This is a historical fact that questions the distinction between old and new challenges. This article locates the concept of diversite in the parliamentary deliberations during the making of the Loi du 28 Mars 1882 sur l'enseignement primaire obligatoire' and the Loi du 9 Decembre 1905 concernant la separation des eglises et de l'Etat' and then compares the relations of diversite and laicite at that time with their relations in contemporary France. The article lays out the move of diversite from a constitutive premise of laic institutions in the Third Republic to challenging laicite, and it explores the politics behind this move. I argue that laicite has not been reasserted but rather has regressed in France.