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To explain the easy passage of the French law against religious symbols in public schools in early 2004, in effect a law aimed at Islamic headscarves, this paper presents a causal account of the passage of laws during two periods: 1901–1908, and 1989–2004. It argues, against Marcel Gauchet, that the first set of laws not so much moved religion out of the public sphere than set out the means for the state to support and control religious institutions. Further, it argues that later headscarf affairs were generated by the convergence of domestic and international anxieties over stability and ideology and that the escalation and conscious promotion of these anxieties rather than a professed concern for the rights of oppressed girls best explains the passage of the law.