In a larger sense, anything having to do with religion – particularly the symbols and ideas of the Christian religion – has been treated like an unhealthy contamination, and systematically exorcised out of what has come to be called the public (as opposed to the private) sector. Unfortunately, essentially everything in the country has been declared to be in the "public" sector and hence subject to unconstrained state control.
I totally concur. Thanks for the flag, David.