This article aims to highlight the controversy between a French liberal approach to secularism and a French republican approach to secularism. The results of a qualitative investigation based on ethnographic observations, conducted in 25 public middle and high schools and on 50 interviews conducted with teachers and other school personnel, show that the republican approach to secularism tends to be replaced by the liberal approach to secularism. At first sight, this trend seems to be paradoxical, as we know that French secularism is based on the republican ideal. However, the success of the liberal approach results as much from the intrinsic strength of its message as from contextual factors.