Conflicts over religion rarely play out today as 'wars of religion' between different religions. More often the battle is between one side wanting more religion in politics and a counterpart insisting on a strict seperation of religion and politics, the secularists. Here, secularism often appears as a given, un-ambiguous thing - and hardliners on both sides in these conflicts have an interest in confirming this image. In a conflict management perspective, however, it is crucial to demonstrate the variation between different secularisms. This article performs a systematic analysis of what is seperated from what, where and how in the allegedly secular states USA, France and Germany. The depth of their variation hopefully inhibits mechanisms of conflict escalation, and provides - more constructively - inspiration for possible reforms in a given situation, for instance the Danish one.