Mark Jaquith's personal blog
France has taken yet another step toward fascism. The National Assembly voted 494-36 to ban Muslim headwear, crosses, skullcaps, and other religious symbols from public schools. The law is set to go before the Senate on March 2nd, where it will likely pass by another huge margin.
France’s large Muslim population is rightfully outraged.
Read More at NYtimes.com: Ban on Religious Apparel Advances in France
[…] Re:freedom? (Score:2) by ShakaUVM (157947) on Thursday October 20, @06:58PM (#13840413) A yamaka is a traditional Jewish Headpiece.> I believe it may be hard to understand for deeply religious Americans. But the same must understand that> those proeminent headscarves were quite an insult to French values. To put it bluntly, and in my opinion,> those headscarves mean “we dot not want to mingle with you native-born French”. That’s not the way one> minor children is supposed to behave in the Republican schools here.Indeed. Religious values are indeed an insult to the French way of life. :p> Aren’t there any state-run schools in the US or elsewhere where the children must all wear the same> uniform? Has this anything to do with true freedom of speech or faith?State-run schools (aka public schools) in the US generally don’t require uniforms, but some of them do. Which has nothing to do with wearing religious symbols. It is a violation of the Bill of Rights to prohibit a student from wearing a crucifix or yamaka, in fact. The only time there’s been real contention is with the Sikhs, since they traditionally wear a little dagger, which is against the zero-tolerance policy on weapons in schools. It was an interesting problem.And, yeah, in France it’s illegal to wear a crucifix or yamaka to school:http://txfx.net/2004/02/10/france-continues-to-ban -religious-apparel/ [txfx.net]For all the media attention on abuses of the Bill of Rights, that gets so much press, it gets so much press exactly because it IS such a big deal to Americans. [ Reply to This | Parent ] […]
This is truly sad, because I was one of the few that defended France during their undeserved barrage of insults and attacks. But now, well, let’s just say, Johnny Depp can keep em.