The ideal of a secular state, resting on a separation of church from state, means that the state does not promote a particular religion, does not say what one can and one cannot believe.

世俗国家的典范理想，潜藏在教堂和国家的分离中，意味着国家既不提倡某种特定的信仰，也不对人们信什么不信什么指手画脚。

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France already has Europe's biggest Muslim population, and it is finding it hard to reconcile its model of integration, which relies on a strict separation of religion and state, with demands by French Muslims for religious expression within public institutions.

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That is why Herod built both Jerusalem and Caesarea, "in effect giving the country two capitals and positing a separation of religion from state, " Mr. Schwartz said.

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One reason is their century-old secular tradition, which fiercely defends the separation of faith and state, and makes most French people uneasy about conspicuous religion.

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