Secularism is the separation of church and state in aspects including but not limited to education, lawmaking and personal expression. Strongly secular states (e. g., France, Norway) often ban the display of religious symbols (crosses, hijabs) in public institutions, prevent the government from funding any religious organisations, and don’t take the advice or opinions of religious experts into account when creating legislation. In contrast, states with weak secularism (e. g., Poland, USA) still ensure principles of religious freedom and non-discrimination on religious grounds; however, they do not ban the public displays of faith, fund religious institutions of the dominant religion, have close ties with religious experts and take their advice into account when passing laws.