''La Ligue de l'enseignement'' was initially conceived and created by the journalist

Jean Macé Jean François Macé (22 August 1815 in Paris – 13 December 1894 in Monthiers) was a French educator, journalist, active freemason and politician. He was perhaps best known as the founder of Ligue de l'enseignement ''La Ligue de l'enseig ...

, on 15 November 1866. It was advocated for by

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

, as public, free,

compulsory Compulsion may refer to: * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...

and

secular education Secular education is a system of public education in countries with a secular government or separation between religion and state. An example of a secular educational system would be the French public educational system, where conspicuous reli ...

. A congress convened in 1881, which gave La Ligue its federal form. In 1925, after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, La Ligue decentralized in order to create even greater access for the public needs. Midway through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in 1942, the league dissolved. In a re-founding convening congress in 1945, La Ligue deepened its involvement in

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

and the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

. To date it remains a member of the

European Humanist Federation The European Humanist Federation (EHF, french: Fédération Humaniste Européenne, FHE), officially abbreviated as EHF-FHE, is an umbrella of more than 60 humanist and secularist organisations from 25 European countries. Founded in Prague in July ...

and the

International Humanist and Ethical Union Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Found ...

References

Educational organizations based in France European Humanist Federation Humanist associations Freedom of expression organizations {{France-stub