Banning Muslim headscarves

[phk]

Ban Muslim Head Scarves?



On another controversial issue, the prohibition on wearing head scarves by Muslim women in public places including schools, attitudes are uniformly negative in the Muslim world but differ sharply among non-Muslim countries.

Majorities in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain, as well as pluralities in Spain, Russia and Poland, view such prohibitions as a bad idea. However, in France, where a ban on wearing head scarves and other "conspicuous" religious symbols in secular schools went into effect last year, a large majority (78%) favors such prohibitions. They are joined in this view by smaller majorities in Germany (54%), the Netherlands (51%) and by nearly two-thirds of the Indian public (66%).

In Turkey, where a longstanding ban on head scarves in schools and public buildings has come under increasing attack from Muslim activists, 64% of the public calls such a ban a bad idea compared with 29% who view it as a good idea. Lebanon weighs in against head scarf bans by 59% opposed to 29% in favor, while even larger majorities in Jordan (97%), Indonesia (95%), Morocco (90%) and Pakistan (77%) call them a bad idea.

[dead0man]

I don't give two sh**ts what somebody wears on their head, but there are some places and jobs where having your face covered is a bad idea.  If these people feel that a "strange" man must never see their face then they probably shouldn't go to places that require it or do jobs that require it.

And that's what I never can understand about religious fanatics, if letting a dude get into your taxi with his seeing eye dog is some how going to send you to hell, maybe you should look for a line of work where you won't run into blind guys with dogs.  If handling pork is a nono, don't work in a butcher or a grocery store.  If strangers can't see your face, maybe getting a drivers license is a bad idea.

[GMantis]

I'm surprised that the Russians are so tolerant.

I don't give two sh**ts what somebody wears on their head, but there are some places and jobs where having your face covered is a bad idea.  If these people feel that a "strange" man must never see their face then they probably shouldn't go to places that require it or do jobs that require it.

And that's what I never can understand about religious fanatics, if letting a dude get into your taxi with his seeing eye dog is some how going to send you to hell, maybe you should look for a line of work where you won't run into blind guys with dogs.  If handling pork is a nono, don't work in a butcher or a grocery store.  If strangers can't see your face, maybe getting a drivers license is a bad idea.

You don't understand the Muslim mindset. They believe that infidels are inferior to them and should accomodate them, wherever they are, even in the infidels' countries.

[dead0man]

Yeah, I guess I do understand that they do think that way.  I just find it silly and selfish and we shouldn't put up with it. They should play by our rules or they shouldn't play (just like everybody else).

[afleitch]

No I don't support banning it. There is a difference between a loose headscarf and a full blown face covering hijab. The first meets religious requirements, the second is just Wahabbist 'cultural' dress. It is they who say the more coverage the 'better the Muslim' which is just bull.

[ilikeverin]

It's an awful idea.  I don't see a problem with a hijab at all.

Also, people: hijab; niqab.  Many, many Muslim woman wear a hijab.  Few Muslim women wear a niqab, at least in the US, perhaps because they don't feel like they need to guard their cultural identity against insane moronic restrictions

[??????????]

I do not at all agree with banning headscarves at all. My grandmother and her sisters wore them when they were younger but as they became more Americanized they gave them up. I had a second cousin who lived with my aunt and she wore one all her life but she was a Muslim, my part of the family were Coptic Christians in Ramallah.

[k-onmmunist]

Ban them, they are a symbol of oppression that simply does not belong in Western society.

[Earth]

Ban them, they are a simple of oppression that simply does not belong in Western society.

How is banning them not oppressive if a woman would like to wear one?

[You kip if you want to...]

Bad idea, and I didn't expect the UK to be so tolerant for some reason.

[paul718]

Firstly, I don't think they should be banned.  People can wear whatever they want. 

Secondly, I'm very surprised by the fact that U.S. is more accepting than France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. 

America <3s Freedom!!

[Sbane]

17% of Pakistanis want to ban headscarves? I wouldn't have expected that.

[Franzl]

Firstly, I don't think they should be banned.  People can wear whatever they want. 

Secondly, I'm very surprised by the fact that U.S. is more accepting than France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. 

America <3s Freedom!!

I'm not surprised at all that America is more tolerant.

[GMantis]

Firstly, I don't think they should be banned.  People can wear whatever they want. 

Secondly, I'm very surprised by the fact that U.S. is more accepting than France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. 

America <3s Freedom!!

I'm not surprised at all that America is more tolerant.

Yes, there a fewer muslims there and the ones that are there are better integrated.

[paul718]

Shows how much I know.

[Ban my account ffs!]

No, it shouldn't be banned.

However, forcing somebody to wear one should be illegal.  If someone wants to wear a headscarf, it should be of their own accord.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Bad idea.

[Sbane]

No, it shouldn't be banned.

However, forcing somebody to wear one should be illegal.  If someone wants to wear a headscarf, it should be of their own accord.

But how would you know if a woman was being forced to wear it by her husband or father?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Strongly support. The French have the right idea here.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Ban them, they are a simple of oppression that simply does not belong in Western society.

How is banning them not oppressive if a woman would like to wear one?

Yeah. I spoke with a Tunisian girl, and there the gov is very tough and repressive with those who show too much their practice of Islam. The Tunisian gov, a dictatorship for those who ignore it, would like to impose a very hard secularity in the country, what doesn't prevent at all the development of Salafism she told me, I even think it encourages it.

And she, she strongly practices Islam, she's young and she chose it, nothing imposed, when she began to get interest to the religion she even first read the Bible, it's a full choice for her. And thus it was a kind of braveness for her to wear the hijab, so things are not that simple, no question of oppression here.

And there are several Arab girls in France who have the same kind of problem, outside of the fact that in France you don't risk the jail because you show a bit too much you practice Islam, like in Tunisia. That said, she told me that the govt had to be more conciliatory with those who practice Islam there these last years.

Personally I'm so fed up with that things, that, according to some ones who are Muslim and well know Quran, are not implied in Islam, that's just an interpretation. But in Quran or not, I'm so fed up with things which consist to say that this is a protection for the woman against all that bad men in streets, that gives by nature a bad image of man. I don't like that.

The only thing I can concede would be that, according to clothes wore and the kind of hijab, it can be pretty sometimes. That's all I would give to it.

[Hash]

France

The government banned headscarves in public schools in 2004. Most people have come around to either accept it or strongly support it.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

France

The government banned headscarves in public schools in 2004. Most people have come around to either accept it or strongly support it.

Euh, there is still in France some strong support and some strong defense of the way we practice the secularity. That's why each headscarve case has been sensitive here.

[opebo]

I don't mind if muslim men want to wear one, but we should not allow the women to be forced to wear them.  If a 'muslim' woman is found to be wearing one she is demonstrably in a condition of physical and emotional abuse by her male 'owner', and should be liberated by state action - i.e. the male members of the family should be jailed and she institutionalized. 

[Gustaf]

I'm not surprised that Opebo and his side-kick take the fascist, freedom-hating position here and want to impose their own moral standards on other people.

Anyway, this is rather obviously a bad idea. A case can be made for it in certain special instances (such as for police officers, or driver's licenses, etc) but in schools? I mean, lol. I debated this in front of 300 people (the so-called European Youth Parliament) this Wednesday. We turned the crowd from 63% against the ban to 75% against it. (granted that was concerning schools only).

But I am surprised at my fellow continental Europeans. Sure, there is a lot of xenophobia and fascism still in Europe and we're not very good at recognizing principles of issues, etc but still. Exclusively banning certain garments belonging to a given group? That's religious persecution unworthy of a free, democratic state.

[Sbane]

France

The government banned headscarves in public schools in 2004. Most people have come around to either accept it or strongly support it.

Euh, there is still in France some strong support and some strong defense of the way we practice the secularity. That's why each headscarve case has been sensitive here.

Can Sikhs wear turbans in France?