laïciser

Senses

1. 1.

   to secularize

   to remove religious character or control from something; to make secular

2. 2.

   to laicize

   to replace clerics with lay people in positions or roles

Examples

• "La France a laïcisé l'éducation au début du XXe siècle."

  France secularized education in the early twentieth century.

• "On doit laïciser l'État pour garantir la neutralité religieuse."

  The state must be secularized to guarantee religious neutrality.

• "Certains pays ont laïcisé leurs institutions religieuses."

  Some countries have laicized their religious institutions.

Usage

Formal, political term common in discussions of church-state relations and education policy. Often used in French Republican and Enlightenment contexts. The related noun is laïcisation.