French President Francois Hollande insisted, Thursday, that France's strict laws separating church and state do not prevent the country's large Muslim minority from practicing its religion, according to Agence France Presse. In a speech on terrorism and democracy during a debate on
the banning of the Islamic burkini swimsuit, Hollande said: "Nothing in the idea of secularism opposes the practice of Islam in France, provided it
respects the law."
Hollande said secularism was not a "state religion" to be used against other religions. He said the state guaranteed "the right to believe or not to believe" as long as the demonstration of that belief did "not disrupt public order." Hollande also said, "The question the Republic must answer is: Is it really ready to make place for a religion that it did not expect to be this big over a century ago," and his answer would be "yes, certainly".