A town in France will be fined $106 dollars a day if it doesn’t remove a statue of the Virgin Mary as the law prohibits the public display of religious symbols, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.
The statue has been up since 2011 and, in 2015 the government warned the town – Publier – that it would be liable to fines if it wasn’t removed. Now, officials there have three months from Nov. 24 to take it down, which they said they would do.
The statue, which currently sits on municipal land and is owned by a Roman Catholic association, angered many when it was first erected. France has a very strict separation of religion and state, a principle deeply-rooted in law since 1905 when the government battled with the Roman Catholic Church. It was also part of France’s effort to encourage a society based on "living together."
Under the law, religious icons are banned in public places.
France in 2004 passed a law prohibiting the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools. Six years later it became the first European country to ban the burka, or full-face Islamic veil.
The town’s mayor, Gaston Lacroix wrote in a tweet: "I think I have an open mind, but I can't stand this new tyranny."
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