ABSTRACT
The French Republic was built on principles of separation of Church and State and religious secularism, known in French as lacit. Lacit was at the base of the French Revolution, and has been a basic tenet of French government since the eighteenth century. Secularism implies not just neutrality, but is itself a government-mandated social norm, leaving little space for identities that might clash with one's role as a politically French citizen. The military contributions of few French individuals were repaid nearly one hundred years later when tens of thousands of Sikhs met their deaths in combat while defending French soil. The French aimed the law against those religious minorities who are most 'visible' among them those whose appearance itself manifests an alternative 'political' identity. The purpose of the ban was ostensibly to discourage the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and to promote secularism.
