French secularism and anti-Catholic school history predate and complicate anti-Muslim motivations.

Evidence

The factors that led to the law are more complex and cannot be reduced only to prejudice against Muslims. The French principle of laïcité is deeply embedded in modern French identity and reflects an overall tendency to privatize all forms of religious expression. Moreover, there is a longer history of the government fighting to exclude religious expression and symbols from public schools, dating back to the late nineteenth century and the Third Republic’s campaign to rid schools of significant Roman Catholic influence. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 613

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in distinguishing the religious sphere from the sphere of a people; laïcité privatizes religion a priori, not just Islam. — connects to: Colonial Catholic pedagogical rules bounded corporal punishment but practice exceeded them — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 4950; France’s laïcité secularism now targets Muslim identity almost exclusively — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 496; Islamophobia began as colonial administrators’ anti-Muslim views across French west Africa — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 484 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• France’s laïcité secularism now targets Muslim identity almost exclusively #qualifies (0.55) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 496
• Anti-Muslim sentiment operates independently of local political ideology #complicates (0.40)
• Islamophobia began as colonial administrators’ anti-Muslim views across French west Africa #complicates (0.35) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 484
• Reformation town libraries inherited unusable Catholic monastic book hoards #exemplifies (0.30) — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 412