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Comment by maxehmookau | Hacker News Reader

I don't know if that's entirely fair. France is staunchly secular, more so than most of its European counterparts. I could be wrong, but I don't think you can wear a crucifix or other religious symbol in French schools either.

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Yes you can, "because it's not visible".

France is about as catholic as it gets when it comes to who actually runs the show.

Are you kidding me? I moved three years ago, from the US, to France, and I am still to hear one single "god bless you", in a conversation or media, let alone the religious comments of all sorts, at work, in political speeches, among folks at home and in the neighborhood, at the daily rate I used to have to ingurgitate, in the land of the free [evangelists].

The US is a really low bar to clear in terms of laicism :)

To be fair, whether you disagree with it or not, this is the spirit of the law: ostensible religious symbols are not allowed in public schools (and more generally in republican institutions). So yes, one symbol is more visible than others, and that makes it somewhat unfair, but the "visible" portion is realistic. You can't ask teachers to check under student's clothes for them.

I will agree though that France has also been very reactionary towards its Muslim population and laicity has been a convenient tool to bash them. But that doesn't invalidate the purpose of the original principle.

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