Apologies if this has been discussed...rather a lot of stuff to read through in here. One of the reasons I moved to and stayed in France is because of the fourth pillar of French society...secularism , or laicité, and how it accords so closely with Humanism. A brief definition of humanism is the belief that it is mankind and his ingenuity, and not a character imagined as "God" has anything to do with the existence of life and the universe as we know it. I suppose you could call it the opposite of creationism. We are what we do. And it accords with secularism in denying that any faith practised by anyone should influence civil life. For example no outward sign of a faith should be visible either in the streets or any civil public building, such as town halls or schools. A civil wedding is the legal one. A religious observance is not the legally recognised one and is for personal reasons only. What ties the two together is the rejection of any purpose for a faith. It affirms the quality and responsibility of humans, not some god. and the most attractive outcome is the second leg of French life...Equality. Because without the recognition of a faith/religion, everyone is just the same as anyone else. No one gets to influence the law, use faith as an excuse, as a pressure group or an individual. Religious text cannot be used to justify any crime or action. It is the civil law which is what counts. When I think of the times any faith is either used as an excuse of an accusation (like those conversations about Muslims collectively being misogynists or child abusers,) any accusations or defenses via faith based explanations are irrelevant ...other than for those determined to be very partisan or criminals being very misguided. But those opinions are immaterial in law. The concept isn't perfect...disputes about what Laicité means and how far it should be taken are not uncommon (like the burkini issue a couple of years ago) but it does vastly reduce the exposure of any faith based adhesion as points of contention and stereotyping. FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism
