From schools to the Olympics, how France's staunch secularism affects religion in public life

Walk around multicultural metropolises like Paris or Marseille, or any small village in the French countryside, and signs of faith are everywhere. Many Muslim women wear headscarves and historical Catholic churches anchor nearly every neighborhood.

The French Constitution states that “France is an indivisible, lay, democratic and social Republic.” A 1905 law codifying the separation of church and state, freeing each from the other’s influence, is similar to most other modern democratic states’ that also contended with a violent history of religious conflicts and absolutist regimes.

Supporters of this approach say that secularism, especially in schools but also in sports clubs, is crucial for youth to be free from pressures of proselytism and radicalization. The latter resonates deeply in France, still scarred by the 2015 attacks when Islamist terrorists killed nearly 150 people.

France’s ban on religious symbols for its athletes at the Olympics is in line not only with the country’s secularism and neutrality principles, but with the Olympic charter, said Médéric Chapitaux, an expert on sports and religion who’s also a member of the French government's council on laïcité. Rule 50.

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