Ibleedburgundy
07-13-2010, 04:06 PM
PARIS -- The French parliament's lower house enacted a sweeping but constitutionally vulnerable law Tuesday barring women from wearing full-face Islamic veils anywhere in public.
The National Assembly's 335-1 decision was scheduled for a vote in the Senate in September. If ratified, the law will make France the second Western European nation after Belgium to ban outright what has become the most prominent symbol of the growing Muslim presence across a continent steeped in traditions of secularism and Christianity.
Similar laws have been discussed, but not passed, in Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In addition, a number of European cities have enacted municipal bans, prohibiting the veils in public buildings and imposing other restrictions.
Apparently by coincidence, France's nationwide ban advanced on the eve of Bastille Day, which marks the 1789 French Revolution that gave birth to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and helped enshrine France as a beacon for the respect of human rights.
The legislation imposed a $185 fine or citizenship lessons -- or both -- on women caught outside their homes wearing the full-face coverings known as a burqa in Afghanistan and a niqab in North Africa. It set a fine of $38,000 and a one-year prison term for anyone convicted of forcing women and girls to wear such veils, reflecting a widely shared conviction here that Muslim women are forced to cover their faces by their fathers or husbands.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071301103.html?hpid=artslot
This strikes me as ill-advised. I agree that a man should not be able to force a woman to wear something over her face, but what if they actually want to because of their Religion?
The National Assembly's 335-1 decision was scheduled for a vote in the Senate in September. If ratified, the law will make France the second Western European nation after Belgium to ban outright what has become the most prominent symbol of the growing Muslim presence across a continent steeped in traditions of secularism and Christianity.
Similar laws have been discussed, but not passed, in Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In addition, a number of European cities have enacted municipal bans, prohibiting the veils in public buildings and imposing other restrictions.
Apparently by coincidence, France's nationwide ban advanced on the eve of Bastille Day, which marks the 1789 French Revolution that gave birth to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and helped enshrine France as a beacon for the respect of human rights.
The legislation imposed a $185 fine or citizenship lessons -- or both -- on women caught outside their homes wearing the full-face coverings known as a burqa in Afghanistan and a niqab in North Africa. It set a fine of $38,000 and a one-year prison term for anyone convicted of forcing women and girls to wear such veils, reflecting a widely shared conviction here that Muslim women are forced to cover their faces by their fathers or husbands.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071301103.html?hpid=artslot
This strikes me as ill-advised. I agree that a man should not be able to force a woman to wear something over her face, but what if they actually want to because of their Religion?