In European countries, a large number of people feel that Islam is incompatible with secularism. France's legal principle of laïcité (a type of state “secularism”) has governed the relationship between religion and society since 1905. However, recent research suggests that there coexist two distinct lay conceptions of laïcité that differ most notably in their tolerance for the presence of religious symbols in public places, one inclusive, the other restrictive. This latter conception appears to target mainly Muslims. The present research examined the lay conceptions of laïcité held by Catholics, Muslims, and nonbelievers. Analyses of participants’ responses (N = 375) to a scale measuring lay beliefs about laïcité confirmed the existence of two distinct lay conceptions of laïcité that differed in the importance given to public expression of religious beliefs, religious neutrality of the state, and equal treatment of different religions. The results also showed that, independent of participants’ religiosity, the restrictive conception was more prevalent among nonbelievers, the two conceptions were equally prevalent among Catholics, and the inclusive conception was more prevalent among Muslims.

中文翻译：

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一种世俗主义的观念给所有人吗？法国非信徒，天主教徒和穆斯林的信奉观念比较

在欧洲国家，许多人认为伊斯兰教与世俗主义不相容。自1905年以来，法国的法律（laïcité）（一种国家“世俗主义”）法律原则一直统治着宗教与社会之间的关系。然而，最近的研究表明，存在两种截然不同的外行观念，即laïcité的不同之处在于其对存在宗教的容忍度最为不同。公共场所中的宗教符号，一种包容性，另一种是限制性的。后一个概念似乎主要针对穆斯林。本研究调查了天主教徒，穆斯林和非信徒持有的“ laïcité”的外行概念。分析参与者对衡量关于laïcité的外行信念的量表（N = 375）的反应证实存在两种截然不同的“ laïcité”概念，它们在公开表达宗教信仰，国家宗教中立以及对不同宗教的平等待遇方面的重要性不同。结果还表明，与参与者的宗教信仰无关，限制性观念在非信徒中更为普遍，两种观念在天主教徒中同样普遍，而包容性观念在穆斯林中更为普遍。