New French law enforces secularism in schools

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 2/15/04 at 7:33am

Wow. I'm all for separation of church and state, but this has taken it way too far, IMO. French Parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill that will ban any type of religious clothing or paraphanalia from being worn in schools. That includes Islamic head scarves for women, yarmulkes on Jewish males, and large crosses on Christians. The new law is sparking public protests as many feel the restrictions will keep some from being able to attend school. Apparently there is an ongoing history (beginning in 1989) of young Muslim women being expelled for wearing the head covering mandated by their religion. Its a different spin on the issue or secularism, something that the US is also struggling with (i.e. the ten commandments in the court house affair), but the difference here is that the ban is restricting personal freedom of religious expression.
Pretty interesting.
Secularism law

Updated On: 2/15/04 at 07:33 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/15/04 at 1:19pm

And let's not forget the rather, um, close relationship between much of French culture and racism either!