Secular coercion is a step taken, by means of a deliberate policy or without one, designed to lead to processes of secularization or to disobedience of religious decrees amongst a religious public. In addition to the significant secular coercion, which prevents individuals from observing religious decrees or imposes secular norms on them, in many cases, there is also a conflict between religious people and non-religious people regarding the proper behavior in public. Observance of religious and/or secular norms are not always confined only to a person's private space, but in many times, also posed on the public space, and as a result a substantial conflict might arise between the religious population's norms and the secular population's norms. From the point of view of the secular population, this conflict may be interpreted as religious coercion, and from point of view of the religious population, this conflict may be interpreted as a secular coercion. Examples An example of a secular coercion in Europe of the 2000s is the prohibition on wearing religious symbols, such as a hijab or kippah, in public schools in France and in the public service in Germany. In some parts of the United States, including Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and Illinois, the Catholic Church was forced to close its adoption services because it won't accept same gender couples. In Israel, some Haredi soldiers have described the requirement for soldiers to attend social functions that have women singing as a form of secular coercion.
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