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| Europe |
| Veils to be banned in French schools |
| 2003-12-11 |
| BORDEAUX, France, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large crosses are to be banned from French public schools, according to a report presented to President Jacques Chirac Thursday. More "discreet" religious symbols, such as small crosses, Muslim Hands of Fatima and Stars of David should be allowed, a 20-member committee headed by former education minister Bernard Stasi suggested after a three-month study of this issue. Chirac will announce next week whether or not he supports putting these suggestions into law. He has previous taken a tough line on France’s separation between church and state, which many French citizens -- and other Europeans --consider threatened by the increasingly frequent appearance of the "hadjib," or veil on the heads of Muslim teachers or adolescent female students. However, in all of France, home to almost five million Muslims, no more than 1,250 veiled students currently attend secondary schools, interior minister Nicholas Sarkozy reported recently. Some have been expelled from school for refusing to take off their headscarves, especially in Alsace, where, ironically, the 1905 rule separating the spiritual and temporal powers does not apply because it was part of Germany at the time. In Alsace, the state still pays the salaries of priests, pastors and rabbis. Nonetheless, Chirac insisted, "We cannot accept brazen signs of religious proselytism, regardless of the faith." Perhaps as a concession to Muslims and Jews, the Stasi committee proposed making their highest feasts -- Eid and Yom Kippur, respectively -- annual holidays at public schools, just like Christmas. Muslim and Jewish students should also be served meals according to their religions’ dietary requirements at public schools. But especially for Jews the suggestions regarding "conspicuous" signs of their faith will pose a major problem, which might also become a constitutional issue. Before the committee issued its report, Joseph Sitruk, France’s grand rabbi, explained that observant Jews must cover their head for prayers. This leads to the troubling question: Does the religiously neutral state have the right to dictate when and where anybody should pray? Is it justified in standing in the way of a young Jew’s plea to God before an exam, for example? Will there be watchdogs in French schools preventing Jewish boys from placing their yarmulkes on their heads before asking God to be with them at this important moment, something their faith would not allow them to do bare-headed? Postponing Sharia in Frogistan? |
| Posted by:Frank G |