“Christians, Jews, Muslims, all believers regardless of their faith, must refrain from ostentation and provocation and … practice their religion in humble discretion,” Mr Sarkozy wrote.
Addressing himself to Muslims, he wrote that anything that could appear as a challenge to France’s Christian heritage and republican values would “doom to failure” a moderate Islam in France.
In taking this line, Mr Sarkozy implicitly rejected attacks from the Left, the intellectual world and some senior figures in his own Gaullist camp over what they see as a ploy that stigmatises immigrants.
Dominique de Villepin, one of three Gaullist former prime ministers to disapprove, said today that Mr Sarkozy’s debate was “rushed and brutal”. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, another former premier, said that Mr Sarkozy had launched a “pub-style debate”.
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