| abstract
| - A secular state is defined as protecting freedom of religion as pursued in state secularism. It is also described to be a state that prevents religion from interfering with state affairs, and prevents religion from controlling government or exercising political power. Laws protect each individual including religious minorities from discrimination on the basis of religion. A secular state is not an atheistic state (e.g. Albania under Enver Hoxha), in which the state officially opposes all religious beliefs and practices. In some secular states, there can be a huge majority religion in the population (e.g. Thailand, Turkey, etc.) and in others there may be great religious diversity (e.g. India, Lebanon, etc). Some may have de facto official religions, in which even though a government doesn't support or deny religion, it may require some members of its government to be a certain religion (e.g. Indonesia, Peru). Secular states become secular either upon establishment of the state or upon secularization of the state (e.g. France). Movements for laïcité in France and for the separation of church and state in the United States began the evolution of the present secular states. Historically, the process of secularizing states typically involves granting religious freedom, disestablishing state religions, stopping public funds to be used for a religion, freeing the legal system from religious control, opening up the education system, tolerating citizens who change religion, and allowing political leadership to come to power regardless of religious beliefs. Public holidays that were originally religious holidays and other traditions are not necessarily affected, and public institutions become safe from being used and abused by religion. Not all legally secular states are completely secular in practice. In France for example, many Christian holy days are official holidays for the public administration, and teachers in Catholic schools are salaried by the state . In India, the government gives subsidy in airfare for Muslims going on Haj pilgrimage(See Haj subsidy).In 2007, the government had to spend Rs. 47,454 per passenger. Many states that nowadays are secular in practice may have legal vestiges of an earlier established religion. Secularism also has various guises which may coincide with some degree of official religiosity. Thus, in the Commonwealth Realms, the head of state is required to take the Coronation Oath swearing to uphold the Protestant faith. The United Kingdom also maintains positions in its upper house for 26 senior clergymen of the established Church of England known as the Lords Spiritual (spiritual peers). The reverse progression can also occur, a state can go from being secular to a religious state as in the case of Iran where the secularized state of the Pahlavi dynasts was replaced by the Islamic Republic (list below). Since at one time all states had official religions and the situation has largely been reversed over the last 250 years, it may be concluded that there was a trend towards secularism in the modern period.
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