Pupils will be banned from wearing abayas, loose-fitting full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, in France’s state-run schools, the education minister has said.
The rule will be applied as soon as the new school year starts on 4 September.
France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws.
Wearing a headscarf has been banned since 2004 in state-run schools.
I’m in a similar boat in a lot of these countries. I have Indian heritage, and at least in Pakistan that could go very, very poorly for me. But I don’t think we should ban any traditionally Pakistani clothing. I don’t shun all Pakistani people because I would be unsafe in their country. And because of that, I’ve made friends who are Pakistani who also find that hatred ridiculous.
Now, I’m not telling you to go into a mosque and try to make friends with people after announcing you’re bi, just like I wouldn’t tell you to do that in a church or cathedral or any gathering of Republicans. That’s the thing – this isn’t exclusive to Islamic extremism. I see no reason then to judge them more harshly than I would any other homophobes, and I have no reason to assume they’re all bigots, just like I don’t assume all Christians or white people are. And it is very notable that the French law has an exception that lets small crosses still be worn, which is the majority of Christian expression, but no such exception exists for the majority of Islamic expression.
I made my initial point poorly, which is that it’s wrong to force people to adapt to your culture, no matter where in the world you are. You can still be completely intolerant of their bigoted beliefs and make it clear those are unacceptable and cross the line, but not restrict someone’s self expression because they share a religion with bigoted idiots. France should be outright outlawing churches if we’re going to target association by religion/culture, not granting exceptions that disproportionately benefit them.
I’m sincerely sorry if my comment came across as “respect the people who want to kill you”, that’s completely my fault and I made my point very poorly. I hold no respect for racists, and I don’t expect anybody to respect their bigots. All bigotry needs to be chased out and ostracized from society.
Change isn’t going to come from treating everyone of a religion or culture as bigots, and killing every bigot isn’t a solution either. If we want to eliminate bigotry, it’s going to come from people rejecting the bigotry of others in their religion/culture and making friends with them. And that’s only possible if we take a harsh stance against bigotry, and only bigotry. Nothing by association.
Again, sorry about my very poor wording.