France's President Nicholas Sarkozy (who I really like very much) has announced that he would like to ban the Burqa from France. The burqa has been banned in public schools in France since 2004, but this would be a more sweeping ban, to include "in public."
On the surface I think this is a good thing, but then when I think about it a little bit more, I'm not so thrilled.
On the one hand, the burqa is worn by the most extreme Muslims who interpret the Koran in a way that makes this a necessity for women going out in public. Because only very stringent (extremist?) Muslims such as the Taliban hold this position, this may just be a way for the French to keep these Muslims out of France. Though it is possible that all it will achieve is these women being confined to their homes, since their husbands will not let them out burqa less. Therein lies the motivation for this, Sarkozy feels that women are forced to wear the burqa and would never do so willingly. I am not sure that a woman who is living an extreme Muslim life does not subscribe to all the facets of it.
On the other hand, this can open a door for governments to stick their noses into religions, and interpretations. This happens already when a religion endangers or imperils children or other adherents o breaks the law, but clothing, as confining and "debasing" as a burqa may be, opens a door I'd rather keep closed.
If Muslims can argue that wearing a burqa is based on interpretation of their religion then the French Government needs to stay out of it unless it's in a governmental function. Meaning, if a woman comes to a government agency she can be expected to be asked to remove the burqa for identification purposes, or an identification picture ( I see no reason why an accommodation can't be made to have a female do this).
If Governments take it upon themselves to free religionists of their chosen way when it is at odds with normal western social mores, the slope is slippery indeed. Will Orthodox Jewish women be told to remove their wigs, and hike up their skirts and sleeves, because it is not socially acceptable to wear that sort of garment in the summer, and seems confining to others?
Will Hasidic men be asked to remove their fur hats (shtreimels)because it offends animal rights activists, and it is not clearly written that one should wear one? I understand if a company, or government agency does not want an employee to wear a yarmulke or tzizis showing, but imagine if you open the door to a government deciding how one should interpret the laws of his religion.
Sarkozy says the burqa is not a sign of religion, but if Muslims don't feel that way then he is overstepping.
4 comments:
excellent point. One shared by Joe Scarborough, a stauch conservative, for the same reasons.
i don't agree with you. for one thing, the burqua completely hides the wearer's identity and creates a public menace. I have long favored the imposition of the death penalty in wartime for anyone wearing a mask in public. Terrorists almost always mask their faces while perpetrating their outrages. It is significant that the wonderful people who gave us 9/11, 7/7, and the bombing of the Cole are the same ones who claim that wearing a burqua is their holy writ.
Kemal Attaturk pulled Turkey out of the stone age by enforcing secularism in public. Sarkozy is trying to prevent France from reverting to the stone age by preventing extreme religious practice in public.
Democratic constitutions protect the peoples' right to religious practice but when it comes to public displays of religious ceremonies they should be limited to those practices which have become part of the culture and have a purpose other than a religious one.
what's to stop him from insisting that chassdich women in france be allowed to wear thinner, or no, hose on their legs, because it is sweltering, could cause them to faint, and so on?
what if there are other countries or governments who don't understand why we do what we do, and find our beliefs or customs to be archaic and stifling?
like the controversial discussions about bris mila that followed the mtziza b'peh story
2 Op-Ed Contributors on Burqas
this one
and this one
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