Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

France to Muslims: uncover-up

Courtesy of Reuters

Freedom of religion is a fundamental American right. However, it may be hard to notice these days. That is why I am glad I live in the United States, rather than France. Several weeks ago the French legislature banned burqas – traditional head scarves – and a number of other facial coverings worn by Muslim women. The proponents of the bill argued the practice of forcing women to wear veils was oppressive and infringed upon their civil rights. It also argued that such a visible display of religion did not correspond with the secular values of French society. France had already banned burqas and hijabs – scarves that cover the head but not the face – from public schools. The many problems with this law are particularly concerning to classical liberals.

Religion is a choice. Likewise, performing the rituals and wearing the identifying marks of a religion are also choices people should be free to make, as long as they don’t affect others around them negatively. Wearing a scarf around your head is much the same as wearing a yarmulke or a cross around your neck. Forcing someone to stop their religious practices because some perceive them to be unfair or oppressive is simply wrong. Our culture considers Muslim fashion choices to be peculiar, but that is no reason for us to make them illegal. I consider wearing pants around your ankles peculiar and silly, but I will not be lobbying for a law against it. Furthermore, this is not a general application law. It is targeted at a specific religious group. If that is not religious discrimination, I don’t know what is.

A key provision of the bill is a very heavy fine and prison sentence for forcing someone to wear the head scarf. Abusive relationships happen to people of every religious denomination. There also exist plenty of legal and social means of addressing abusive relationships in French law and society. When a man forces his wife to dress a certain way under threats, it needs to be addressed regardless of the religious context. This provision of the burqa ban is therefore redundant, unless it was designed specifically to prosecute Muslims more harshly for the same offense as non-Muslims committing the same crime. This can be somewhat equated to harsher punishments for crack cocaine offenses over powder cocaine offenses that were a vessel for economic and racial discrimination in fines and prison sentences in the United States.

The French decision to become a more secular state is laudable. In a world that is increasingly globalized and cosmopolitan, nations can’t pretend they are religiously uniform anymore. Even the smallest nations now have hundreds of religious groups, sects, and denominations among their population. In that context, the ideal of a secularized state that doesn’t discriminate against any particular religion is a good one. However, this bill sends France into a completely different direction. It explicitly targets a completely innocent behavior by Muslims. The only real issue that the bill addresses is already taken care of by a multitude of other laws.

What the law truly does want to enforce is conformity. This law was created to force French Muslims to look more like white, Gallic Frenchmen. It is not simply religious discrimination, but also an attempt at slowly dismantling the culture of the Muslim immigrants into France. As a cosmopolitan nation, France should embrace the differences among its population, not attempt to repress them. How would many of us feel if the government in Washington decided to ban Irish pubs because they don’t represent “real America,” or try to demolish the nation’s Chinatowns because they don’t fit in with the architecture around them? Liberalism celebrates diversity. This law seeks to stamp it out.

France’s ban on a harmless aspect of Muslim religious observance is completely misguided and unnecessary. A scarf can’t harm anyone. Some argue that it harms women, but those women choose what they wear. This law does not liberate them, but rather takes away their freedom of religious observance. A Muslim husband who controls his wife’s wardrobe should be considered just as liable under the law as a Christian, Jew or Hindu husband who does the same. Muslims are not special – they deserve to be subject to the same laws as members of any other religion. That is why I am glad I live in the United States of America, where I am free to choose what religious practices I subscribe to and the state can’t judge them as right or wrong.

Yaroslav Mikhaylov is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].

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  • M

    MikeOct 14, 2010 at 11:02 am

    They aren’t? Muslim women (However small the minority) being forced to abandon what they have practiced and known their whole life because the government says its in their best interest to not continue their practice has nothing to do with freedom I suppose (sarcasm).

    Glad we live in the U.S, though too many people here want to keep giving the government power.

    Mike

    Reply
  • C

    ChesterfieldOct 12, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    ^^^Its scary to think that you believe human freedom and clothes are somehow related

    Reply
  • M

    MikeOct 12, 2010 at 11:21 am

    It’s so scary that so many of you think it is acceptable for a government to mandate what one can and can’t wear.

    Reply
  • A

    ArafatOct 5, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    Why do people keep referring to Islam as a “religion”?

    Islam is a total way of life rooted in the 7th century. A way of life that has changed very little since then.

    Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God that which is God’s.”

    Buddha, Jesus, nor other religious leaders did not seek power. Mohammed was alone in that regard.

    Buddha, Jesus and other religious leaders did not kill, rape, torture, enslave and pillage. Mohammed was alone in that regard.

    Why is it people keep confusing Islam with religion, and only religion? Islam is a total way of life that includes governmental, judicial, customs and religion.

    In fact, this is the core issue behind the burka ban. The burka ban is an acknowledgement by the French people that they are dealing with more than just a religion, but are, in fact, dealing with a fascist, theocratic force that would usurp the French way of life if given the chance to do so.

    The French burka ban is nothing more than the French telling Islam it’s time to leave the barbaric 7th century, and it’s time to start showing respect for others, for non-Muslims, for other forms of government, other forms of religion or no religions, other forms of dressing.

    Until people realize Islam is NOT a religion so much as a total way of life they will continue to confuse what is really going on. Islam is not here to adapt. Islam is here to usurp our freedoms and to make us subservient to their theocratic, fascistic way of life.

    Reply
  • J

    J.T chesterfieldOct 5, 2010 at 12:03 am

    I laud the above clarification; thankfully, someone is calling the bluffs of westerners.

    Reply
  • T

    T.Oct 4, 2010 at 9:36 pm

    Both this article and the responses to it are misinformed. The burqa is not the traditional Muslim head scarf. The head scarf you are talking about is called HIJAB. A burqa is a dress that completely covers the body except for the eyes. It is not part of Muslim tradition, but rather part of the tradition of a small ethnic group that happens to be Muslim – the Pashtuns of Afghanistan. Burqas are extremely rare among Muslims, and it is estimated that the total number of women wearing them in the whole country of France is less than 100 people.

    In other words, this law was a publicity stunt that will hardly affect anyone at all.

    Reply
  • D

    D.TubbOct 4, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    Mr. Mikhaylov would have his readers believe that burqas for women of the Muslim religion is a choice, like being stoned to death is a choice. Women born into this culture have little power and little choice without being physically punished. The covering the face is restricted to one gender, if both genders were “guided” by their religious beliefs, and Muslim men included themselves in this little farce, I doubt France would have a problem. But the Muslim men don’t adorn a burqas, because they feel it is beneath their dignity to do so and they would be right, just as it is for a woman. Bravo France!

    Reply
  • J

    J.T ChesterfieldOct 4, 2010 at 11:01 am

    Any centuries-old religious practice, such as the one described here, has simply become part of every-day life for many Muslim women.

    For the burqa clad women of France, this decree is like the U.S ordering all women to wear short-shorts. Sure, there are some younger women who are perhaps open to more progressive ideas; but what about Granny? She doesn’t feel comfortable wearing short shorts. For her, this would violate her everyday practices of several decades, and changing over night is simply not an option. We forget that our natural, pragmatic instincts, which govern our everyday lives, are more firmly rooted than lofty western ideas of “freedom” and “women’s lib.”

    Reply
  • D

    DaveOct 4, 2010 at 10:16 am

    “Likewise, performing the rituals and wearing the identifying marks of a religion are also choices people should be free to make”

    True, but I wonder some times how many FREE Muslim women are to make said choices.

    Reply