A town in eastern France has been ordered to remove a statue of the Virgin Mary to comply with a national ban on religious symbols in public, the local mayor said Saturday.
An administrative court ordered the commune of Publier, in the Haute-Savoie region, to remove the religious image, which has stood in a public park since 2011.
The town has three months to comply before it starts incurring a fine of 100 euros per day, according to the ember 24 judgement.
Town mayor Gaston Lacroix said he intended to find a new home for the offending statue "on private land".
The statue was subsequently sold to a religious cultural association which was not, however, allowed to buy the parcel of land it stood on, meaning it rened on public property and therefore in breach of French rules regarding religious symbols.
FRENCH CONNECTIONS – Thurs. 21.07.16: France's brand of secularism – "la?cité" – is often the cause of bitter debates, particularly in the wake of last year’s Charlie Hebdo attacks. Critics say it's too extreme and call for more flexibility and tolerance with respect to religion. But defenders say it's the glue that keeps French people together in harmony.
Are France and China right in forcing Muslims to be more secular?
I can't comment on the Chinese situation, which has a more expressly atheist background, from what I can see.
European secularism however intends to keep religious influences out of government and by extension out of the public sphere. At the same time it takes care that all religious expression is protected unless it conflicts with the peaceful living together in a secular society.
So should the expression of Islam be curbed? I would say no in principle, although the burkha is a bit of a border case, which just is a bit too extreme for Western sensibilities. Things like fatwas are of course out of the question.
Other than that if Islam is limited in its expression, so should the other religions be according to the same principles. Double standards are a danger.
I realise that in the real world this doesn't always happen consistently. As secular as states try to be they cannot really completely escape their Christian heritage.
I would suppose similar heritage plays into Chinese policy but I'd be guessing.
I can't speak for china, But in france we are not forcing muslims to be more secular, In france, religions are a private practice, and should stay in private areas. No one will force you to become atheist or christian, but we are asking you to keep your faith private.
And the law says: do not cover your face in public, this law was established after masked rioters making a lots of damages, that's not targeting muslims, that's for public safety. Hijab is ok, burka is not.
And in france the law is above the quran. Honor killing are not allowed, does that make us wanting muslim to be more secular? We also refuse to criminalise apostasy, and we refuse to apply sharia, if it is your definition of secular, yes we want muslim to be more secular. Don't forget in Rome, do like Romans.
But in france some bearded, djellaba wearing asshole/salafists are constantly testing and pushing the limits, therefore making a bad name for islam in france.
I'm Chinese. China isn't forcing Muslims to be more secular. It's actually illegal to practice any form of religion in China. But the government is usually lenient and does not strict anyone from practicing their own religion. However Chinese government does not tolerate any religious people that commit crimes.
In Xingjiang area, we have Muslims too. They were very peaceful and good people. Women wear headscarfs but it doesn't cover their hair completely. However, in the recent years, they have been radicalized. We start to see hajib and burqa. Chinese Muslims became very violent and practice terrorisms. So burqa is banned now and so much more restrictions have been implemented.
China just doesn't know how to deal with the changing of Chinese Muslims. Islam itself no problem, radicalized muslims killing people? yes problem. But how can non-Muslim Chinese differentiate between them? That's hard. So we go by hajib and burqa.
Anonymous Written 13 Dec 2015I'm Chinese. China isn't forcing Muslims to be more secular. It's actually illegal to practice any form of religion in China. But the government is usually lenient and does not strict anyone from practicing their own religion. However Chinese government does not tolerate any religious people that commit crimes. 
