What is your stance on burkinis or headscarves on French (or American) beaches (or streets)?

[MADem]

89. The shrine is a private and specifically religious location. It's not government - owned or run.

Lourdes, the town, benefits monetarily from tourists visiting the shrine, and then hanging around for a meal, or to buy gee-gaws, or stay in nearby hotels, but the shrine itself is the property of the very private Catholic Church.

That's like saying Gee, there's nothing religious going on in mosques, either.

Your comment makes no sense. Of course France has a Roman Catholic history and many who still practice that faith (though fewer as time goes by) --but the government is secular. That's how they play it. The French culture favors elements like history and tradition--they've made mistakes in their past and they step very carefully and deliberately as a consequence. Changing the historical name of a place isn't going to change the history of that place, and those Saint names for towns ARE part of their history. France is not about to deny its historical relationship to the Holy Roman Empire--their past to no small extent makes them what they are today.