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Why French writes 'islam', 'chrétien' and 'musulman' in lowercase

In English, religions and their followers always take a capital letter: Islam, Christianity, a Muslim, a Catholic family. French does the opposite. Both the religion and the people who practise it are written in lowercase: l'islam, le christianisme, un musulman, une famille catholique.

This trips English speakers up because the capital feels like a sign of respect, so leaving it out looks wrong. In French it is simply the normal spelling. These words are treated like ordinary nouns and adjectives, not like names. There is one well-known exception, Juif, which follows its own logic.

Word list
chrétienmA2 Christian un chrétien, elle est chrétienne = a Christian, she's Christian islammA2 Islam l'islam = Islam musulmanmA2 Muslim un musulman, elle est musulmane = a Muslim, she's Muslim catholiqueB1 Catholic une famille catholique = a Catholic family christianismemB1 Christianity le christianisme = Christianity judaïsmemB1 Judaism le judaïsme = Judaism JuifmB1 Jew un Juif = a Jew; il est juif = he's Jewish protestantmB2 Protestant il est protestant = he's Protestant mormonmC1 Mormon les mormons = the Mormons
How it works

French capitalises names of specific people, places and institutions. A religion or a believer is not seen as a name, so it stays lowercase, whether it is a noun or an adjective:

  • the religion: le christianisme, l'islam, le judaïsme
  • the follower, as a noun: un chrétien, une musulmane
  • the adjective: une école catholique, il est protestant

Other faiths work the same way: le bouddhisme, un bouddhiste, l'hindouisme. Rule of thumb: if English capitalises it only because it is a religion, French writes it lowercase.

What keeps a capital is anything that really is a name: holy books, God and specific institutions. So you write la Bible, le Coran, Dieu and l'Église catholique (the Church as an institution), but un catholique. Of course, any word at the start of a sentence still takes a capital.

Il s'est converti à l'islam.
(He converted to Islam.)
Les musulmans lisent le Coran.
(Muslims read the Koran.)
The words
The religions

Christianisme, islam and judaïsme are masculine and usually take the article le or l'.

Elle étudie l'histoire du christianisme.
(She studies the history of Christianity.)
Le judaïsme est une des plus anciennes religions du monde.
(Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world.)
The followers

Chrétien, musulman, protestant and mormon work as both nouns and adjectives, with feminine forms like chrétienne and musulmane. After être, French uses no article: elle est chrétienne, not elle est une chrétienne.

Ma grand-mère est chrétienne et va à la messe le dimanche.
(My grandmother is Christian and goes to Mass on Sundays.)
Mon voisin est musulman, il fait le ramadan.
(My neighbour is Muslim, he observes Ramadan.)
Dans cette région, beaucoup de familles sont protestantes.
(In this region, many families are Protestant.)
Les mormons sont nombreux dans l'Utah.
(There are many Mormons in Utah.)
Catholique

Catholique is mostly used as an adjective and has the same form in the masculine and feminine.

Ses parents sont catholiques.
(Her parents are Catholic.)
Watch out
The exception: Juif

Juif is special because it can name a people, not just a religion. When it is a noun for the Jewish people, it takes a capital like a nationality: un Juif, une Juive, les Juifs. As an adjective, it is lowercase: il est juif, la cuisine juive. When the noun clearly refers to the religion, many writers also use lowercase: un juif pratiquant (a practising Jew).

Les Juifs d'Europe ont une longue histoire.
(The Jews of Europe have a long history.)
Son mari est juif.
(Her husband is Jewish.)
No trap here

Words like athée, athéisme, païen and paganisme are lowercase in French, but also in English (atheist, pagan), so they cause no trouble. The typical mistake is copying the English capital onto Musulman, Chrétien or Islam in the middle of a sentence.

Summary

In French, religions and their followers are lowercase, both as nouns and adjectives: l'islam, le christianisme, un musulman, elle est catholique. Only real names keep a capital, such as Dieu, la Bible and le Coran. The one exception is Juif, which takes a capital when it names the Jewish people as a noun (les Juifs) but stays lowercase as an adjective (il est juif).