Even as a Jew in New York, I know of what it is like to be Muslim in France.
While studying abroad in the French city of Strasbourg in 2007, I decided to grow a bushy beard. Little did I know that in France, only traditional Jewish and Muslim men don anything but the most finely trimmed mustache or goatee. Since I did not wear a yarmulke or other head covering, people who saw me on the street assumed that I was Muslim.
I felt that police officers and passersby treated me with suspicion, and even on the crowded rush hour bus, few chose to sit next to me if they could avoid it. On one occasion someone followed me home and tried to start a fight, only to find that I was a bewildered American, not a French Muslim.
Never before, and never since, have I experienced disdain of this sort. On a daily basis, I was made to feel badly because of my appearance -- and what was presumed to be my corresponding religious affiliation. So when I read of the effort by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his supporters to criminalize the burqa (and other garments that fully cover a woman's body, head, and face) in France, I understood it to be far more than a measure to protect women's rights or preserve the concept of a secular society, on which the modern French state is built.
In my opinion, it is easy to see how the "burqa ban" might be misused as a part of a broader effort to stigmatize a religious population, one that already perceives itself to be on the margins of society.
Admittedly, I am fundamentally opposed to any garment or religious practice -- including those found in my own Jewish tradition -- that suggests that women hold a different or subservient position. But the burqa ban in France will not achieve the aim of gender equality. If anything, it will strengthen religious conservatives in France's Muslim population by convincing members of the moderate majority of Muslims that the rest of French society will never accept them.
While there are said to be only 2,000 women who wear burqas in all of France today, the entire Muslim population, estimated to be around five to six million, will take umbrage at another measure that singles out their community.
If we assume that Sarkozy is genuinely motivated by the belief that the burqa "hurts the dignity of women and is unacceptable in French society," according to an April 21 article in the New York Times, his best response would in fact be to enact measures welcoming Muslim citizens more fully into French society. Such affirmations would undercut efforts by the small minority of religiously conservative Muslims to gather a following among disaffected coreligionists who feel unable to overcome anti-Muslim prejudice.
The need for the French government to treat religious minorities with respect is bolstered by its own history. In 1781, the enlightened German thinker Christian Wilhelm von Dohm made what at the time was a revolutionary suggestion: "Certainly, the Jew will not be prevented by his religion from being a good citizen, if only the government will give him a citizen's rights." But it was the French who first put Dohm's prophetic vision into action.
In 1806, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte emancipated French Jews by passing laws to improve their economic and social status. He invited them to live anywhere they pleased and recognized their religion, affirming its permanent place within the private sphere of French life. Though he did renege on several of his early commitments, Napoleon's efforts ultimately enabled Jews to become a full part of French society.
Through these acts of profound tolerance over 200 years ago, France set an example for all of Europe and proved that its open-mindedness was more than rhetorical.
Modern France would do well to follow its own admirable example and truly treat Muslim citizens as equal participants in society. Foregoing the burqa ban would be a sensible first step.
This article, now updated, was originally published by the Common Ground News Service.
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A possibly good reason for a burqa ban would be for security and identification purposes... in which case this would have to logically also ban wearing Halloween masks.
I also do not buy the lame excuse that the burqa is a symbol of male domination over women (whether true or not)... that is an entirely different issue, and must be addressed accordingly.
I don't appreciate being legislated (i.e. dictated) as to what I can eat, smoke, f---k, or wear... period!... as long as I am not harming anyone else. So, accordingly, I would not seek to dictate to others.
The proposed ban is a despicable covert control tactic masquerading as local "cultural preservation".
The Burqua is one of the few ways that the Koran explicitly states for a Muslim to demonstrate her faith. For a (admittedly small) portion of the veiled population, it is the one way that they can show themselves as religious beings. This is especially true in western societies, where it is a choice.
To ban the Burqua completely does the same thing to religious self determination that forcing all women to wear one does. It robs a woman of the right to express herself. In fact, some of the fiercest opponents to mandated veiling were women who were already veiled, not as a symbol of subservience to men but as a demonstration of their faith- a submission to their g-d. To mandate all women be veiled made their veiling effectively meaningless in a world where they were already denied much.
So while I am in full support of ending laws that mandate veil usage, I have to question and chastise those who wish to ban them outright.
http://article.wn.com/view/2010/04/10/Acid_attack_woman_resigned_to_fate/
Are you sure you are not living in denial? There are over a billion followers of Islam in the world so it is not surprising that you haven't personally met someone who has done this.
Is there a moral difference between France oulawing a Burqa or America outlawing uncovered breasts or Iran requiring the Chadoor style of scarf.
and most muslims I've talked to claim the burqa has nothing to do with islam.........
and there is no evidence that most europeans are converting to islam.......
Personally, being a male from a non-veil culture, if I was with a girl, I wouldn't want her to wear a veil either. Ultimately of course, it would be her choice. But, in my opinion, when I see girls who are not originally Middle Eastern in origin, who adopt the veil, they show their ignorance on their face (so to speak). Many of them think that a cultural practice found only in the Middle East, must by virtue of that fact, be an Islamic one. That's nonsense.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AbdAllah755#p/a/u/1/ZAMx5yomJXg
There is a collision of human rights and cultural legacy here. I am not a fan of moral relativism, so I tend to go with the higher ethic of human rights. Just because something is a cultural 'value' doesn't mean we should tolerate it. Others have made this point, so I shan't belabor it.
I don't know that I support a ban, but I do agree with Panzerblume that not all cultural 'values' should be tolerated, particularly if they marginalize a portion of the population.
Of course, some women may actually want to wear the burqa. Is it wrong to deny them the option? I don't know. It may be their wanting to wear it is a product of abusive indoctrination into an outdated idea about what it means to be a woman. Thus, I would lean toward supporting the ban. To what extent a ban could actually repair the damage done by religiously founded sexism, I'm not sure.
At any rate, the issue shouldn't be determined by fear of Islamic anger.
Must I be tolerant, accepting, and respectful when a family in France takes their daughter back home to North Africa at age three for female circumcision? Will I clap my hands in glee when they marry her off at age nine? No, I won't. So why must I be accepting of the full face covering veil which hides the identity of women only?.
Why is it so awful to expect groups, when integrating into a new society, to accept that some changes or limitations are expected?
Ban the burqa in the West. Do not let it take a foothold. Stop feeling guilty about what's right for society as a whole. Don't make it an issue of religion or even culture, this is an archaic custom and it does not need to be accepted by us.
-Proud to be intolerant of the full face covering veil.