Where the Secular is Sacred

Here's the lead sentence from a NY Times Article on the controversy in France over the government honoring the Pope in death.

PARIS, April 7 - France may be a predominantly Roman Catholic country, but it is also officially secular, with separation of church and state one of its most sacred tenets.

Hmmm... where else did the state slip right in and take the place of the church...? Amazing how a few 18th century philosophers can screw up a country for hundreds of years.