Victoria Phillips
Friday, September 17, 2010
4:50 pm
France’s government passed a low banning burqas and other full body robes on Tuesday. They will start enforcing this law in 6 months and will charge people who violate this law. This law would apply to all citizens, including visitors and tourists. France officials claimed this legislation was not targeting Muslims at all. However, President Nicolas Sarkozy is very known for his year long campaign fighting against head-to-toe robes. He claims that this practice is degrading towards women and suggests that women should be submissive. Many socialists didn’t agree with the law because it would hurt the nation’s tolerance of cultural diversity. They agreed that the burqa was degrading, but that it should be banned through dialogue and other means, not legislation. People who are against this law claim that France is only doing this to take attention away from bigger problems such as unemployment. Many Muslim women who are opposed to this legislation are planning to have other citizens do their shopping and errands, so they do not have to go out in public. This issue is also becoming a security threat. There were two bomb threats reported, one at the Eiffel Tower and one near the Notre Dame Cathedral, that came within minutes of the law being passed.
Many do not agree with Muslim practices, however, it is not the government’s job to take part in this very opinionated debate. They recently banned headscarves, yarmulkes and other visible religious symbols from being worn in public school because it was violating the “separation of church and state”. Keeping Muslim women from wearing something that is a part of their religion is not separating church and state.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703376504575492011925494780.html
1 comment:
I remember reading about this several months ago before it was passed. I do not think that the burqa should be banned because government officials feel that it is oppressive to women. Many women choose to wear head scarves or other traditional garments because they believe in modesty and support what they stand for. They should have the freedom to wear them since it does no harm to anyone else. In high school we were not allowed to wear hats or bandanas or even color our hair something unnatural because it was considered distracting but that had nothing to do with religion. Prohibiting students from wearing headscarves seems like it would do more damage than good and doesn't really accomplish separating church and state. Do they prohibit people wearing cross charms as well?
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