http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/19/news/secular.php
"The French concept of 'laicite - a term for which secularism is only an imperfect translation - has become an integral part of the identity of the French Republic, which in theory is blind to color and creed. Indeed, with President Jacques Chirac calling laicism 'a pillar of the republican temple,' some people say that it has become a state religion itself.
The French are re-evaluating the concept, even more so since the November rioting. A growing recognition of the discrimination and poverty suffered by immigrants and their descendants, many of them Muslim, has prompted calls from across the political spectrum for a looser interpretation of the 1905 law. "
