Passive v active secularism

I heard this in philosophy of religion lecture I was attending (yeah that’s how I spend my free time, how about you?).  I found it really fascinating:

The US does not allow prayer in school.  Why?  It is “passive secularism.”  We don’t want to violate the rights of individuals (kids or their parents) by forcing a religious practice on them.  No matter how small or insignificant it seems.  We are concerned with anything that could make anyone uncomfortable for any reason connected to religion.  Even a moment of silence that could be interpreted as a time designated for prayer.

France does not allow prayer in school.  Why?  It is “active secularism.”  They don’t want to violate the rights of the state by forcing a religious practice on it. They are concerned with people wearing religious items to school (necklace with a cross, Muslim headscarf).  They want to keep the students’ religion away from the school rather than the school’s religion away from the student. 

I am not sure I have any specific words of wisdom regarding this dichotomy.  I just never thought about this before.  And I love learning something new and wanted to share it with you all.