And I thought France was dumb for banning burqas...
actually that's a damn good thing. the only time a priest is seen in his garb is at church, the only time a rabbi dons his habits is in the sinagogue, so why the hell should any religious attire be worn in the street? regarding the skirt, it is stupid, seeing how that's the length of one of my own skirts and i don't want anyone banning my wearing of it. UP, consider it cultural shock if you will, but in france, religious garb of any kind is simply not as tolerated as in the usa.
Well that's kinda...bigoted of you. But then again you're French so I can see why you'd be like this. Because the Hijab isn't for religious services numbnuts. It's how a Muslim woman proclaims her faith and keep's herself right with Allah like how a Christian woman carries around the cross. It's an article of clothing that's both serviceable and religious.
As for this, I feel like this is a purely religious thing rather then government issue but I'm not gonna split hairs. This is the dumbest thing to ban a Muslim girl over and just shows how stupid France is. Wonder if any other French girl got sent home for wearing a skirt this long or if it's only her.
Ironbite-France certainly tries to minimize any form of religious identity. Wonder why.
@ravy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_France by all means, read on. it's short, and shows that your 3/4 estimate may be true in the usa, but it's overblown in france. and you are right, if you must wear a pendant or whatever, hide it. i don't understand your argument about haemorraging people, do you refer to fines? i doubt it would lead to economic ruin, however. france is run by morons, but not for this reason. freedom from religion is the major motor of the fifth republic, for reasons that will become self-evident further on in the post.
@sigmaleph: indeed, but it's only tolerated for two reasons. a: it's their work outfit, so it falls in the professionnal category, and b: it obeys the same restrictions as all religious garb otherwise (never in a lay setting).
@dpareja: you're absolutely right.
@ironbite: bigoted maybe, but i stand by what i say. i don't like seeing people wearing crosses, kippas, headscarves, turbans, stars of david, hands of fatma, or any other religious symbol. to correct you on the veil, it was supposedly because one of muhammad's wives wore it as a sign of respect to her husband. it didn't become the de facto symbol of islam until the late 50's, when islam took a turn for the more hardline. for instance, nowhere does it say in the quran that a muslim cannot drink alcohol, only that he must be sober for prayer. nowadays, try and tell a muslim he can have a glass of wine without getting strange looks (i tried because i was friendly and it was 10 pm. got chewed out until he called his imam then he apologized). now, with that out of the way, i'll give you a few reasons why france might be going overboard on religious identity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusadeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocausthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolutionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empirealong with voltaire, the fourth republic, many worldwide conflicts, and of course a major religious resentment dating back from the enlightenment, france is hostile to religion, maybe because it reminds them of the absolutist monarchies of the past (in which the king was head of church and state). any religious conflict is more ammo for france's hatred of worship. each link i've given is any one reason that can be raised by french scholars and politicians for the banning of religion (despite france's priviledged status in the eyes of the catholic church). when christine boutin raised a bible in the national assembly, it caused a massive uproar and she was nearly thrown out. when nicolas sarkozy went to visit the pope in the vatican, his popularity dipped. knee-jerk reactions that remind the french of a less than flattering past.
hope this explains my own anti-religious sentiments a bit better. if you have any questions, ask away. i just don't want a shitstorm, and hope we can agree to disagree if it comes to that.