adios
12-11-2003, 11:34 AM
I thought this was interesting:
French Panel Favors Ban on Head Scarves (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=9&u=/ap/20031211/ap_on_re_eu/france_islamic_head_scarves)
French Panel Favors Ban on Head Scarves
1 hour, 1 minute ago Add World - AP to My Yahoo!
By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - A blue-ribbon panel commissioned by President Jacques Chirac said Thursday it favors banning Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious attire in public buildings, including schools.
Several girls have been expelled from public schools this year for wearing Islamic head scarves, fueling debate over the notion of secularism, a constitutionally guaranteed principle that is a core value of modern-day France.
Christian and Jewish religious leaders have said they are opposed to a law banning head scarves from schools and favor better integration of the Muslim community into the mainstream.
But there are fears that head scarves signal inroads by Muslim fundamentalists in France's estimated 5 million-strong Muslim community — 8 percent of the population and the largest of any Western European country.
The panel's conclusions, which follow six months of study and 120 hearings, were expected to play a role in Chirac's own decision on whether to propose legislation on the matter.
The 20-member panel agreed unanimously that France should impose a law banning "obvious" religious and political symbols from public buildings, such as head scarves, yarmulkes or large-sized crucifixes. Small pendants like the Star of David would be permitted.
Bernard Stasi, who headed the commission, said the proposed law was aimed at keeping France's strict secular underpinnings intact and at countering "forces that are trying to destabilize the country," a reference to Islamic fundamentalists.
Stasi stressed that the commission's work did not target France's Muslim community but was aimed at giving all religions a more equal footing.
"Muslims must understand that secularism is a chance for Islam," Stasi said. "Secularism is the separation of church and state, but it is also the respect of differences."
Neither the Grand Mosque of Paris nor the Consistoire in Paris, which runs Jewish religious life in France, had an immediate reaction to the Stasi report.
But France's largest high school teachers union criticized the report for not going far enough in calling for secularism to prevail in public schools.
"In France, in terms of secularism, there is a lot to do. Veils are just one problem, but not the only problem," said Daniel Robin, national secretary of the SNES union. Among problems, he said, was that several of France's departments still require religion to be taught in public schools and have clergy on their payrolls.
The commission also recommended what would be a first for France — adding Jewish and Muslim holidays to the school calendar.
Chirac — who has made clear his opposition to blatant religious symbols in the classroom — said he would address the nation next week with his own conclusions.
On a state visit last week to Tunisia, Chirac told a group of high school students that wearing a veil in France was seen as "a sort of aggression."
There is currently no law banning headscarves in schools or elsewhere. A 1999 ruling by the Council of State, France's highest administrative body, said scarves should be banned only when they are of an "ostentatious character" but left it up to schools to make that judgment on a case-by-case basis. The same rule applies to skullcaps and crucifixes.
The panel concluded that the rule's language left too much room for interpretation. A law banning the "obvious" display of religious symbols would be easier to enforce.
Proponents of a law say that students who wear Muslim head scarves to school, just like civil servants who cover their heads on the job, are challenging the nation's secular underpinnings.
A bitter debate over whether the head covering can be worn in public schools, or by civil servants, has festered for nearly 15 years and deepened as France's Muslim children have grown up. Some see it as a flag of Islamic militancy.
Each year, there are about 150 complaints involving head scarves, according to Hanifa Cherifi, a French Education Ministry mediator. Unresolved cases lead to expulsion — fewer than 50 last year.
French Panel Favors Ban on Head Scarves (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=9&u=/ap/20031211/ap_on_re_eu/france_islamic_head_scarves)
French Panel Favors Ban on Head Scarves
1 hour, 1 minute ago Add World - AP to My Yahoo!
By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - A blue-ribbon panel commissioned by President Jacques Chirac said Thursday it favors banning Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious attire in public buildings, including schools.
Several girls have been expelled from public schools this year for wearing Islamic head scarves, fueling debate over the notion of secularism, a constitutionally guaranteed principle that is a core value of modern-day France.
Christian and Jewish religious leaders have said they are opposed to a law banning head scarves from schools and favor better integration of the Muslim community into the mainstream.
But there are fears that head scarves signal inroads by Muslim fundamentalists in France's estimated 5 million-strong Muslim community — 8 percent of the population and the largest of any Western European country.
The panel's conclusions, which follow six months of study and 120 hearings, were expected to play a role in Chirac's own decision on whether to propose legislation on the matter.
The 20-member panel agreed unanimously that France should impose a law banning "obvious" religious and political symbols from public buildings, such as head scarves, yarmulkes or large-sized crucifixes. Small pendants like the Star of David would be permitted.
Bernard Stasi, who headed the commission, said the proposed law was aimed at keeping France's strict secular underpinnings intact and at countering "forces that are trying to destabilize the country," a reference to Islamic fundamentalists.
Stasi stressed that the commission's work did not target France's Muslim community but was aimed at giving all religions a more equal footing.
"Muslims must understand that secularism is a chance for Islam," Stasi said. "Secularism is the separation of church and state, but it is also the respect of differences."
Neither the Grand Mosque of Paris nor the Consistoire in Paris, which runs Jewish religious life in France, had an immediate reaction to the Stasi report.
But France's largest high school teachers union criticized the report for not going far enough in calling for secularism to prevail in public schools.
"In France, in terms of secularism, there is a lot to do. Veils are just one problem, but not the only problem," said Daniel Robin, national secretary of the SNES union. Among problems, he said, was that several of France's departments still require religion to be taught in public schools and have clergy on their payrolls.
The commission also recommended what would be a first for France — adding Jewish and Muslim holidays to the school calendar.
Chirac — who has made clear his opposition to blatant religious symbols in the classroom — said he would address the nation next week with his own conclusions.
On a state visit last week to Tunisia, Chirac told a group of high school students that wearing a veil in France was seen as "a sort of aggression."
There is currently no law banning headscarves in schools or elsewhere. A 1999 ruling by the Council of State, France's highest administrative body, said scarves should be banned only when they are of an "ostentatious character" but left it up to schools to make that judgment on a case-by-case basis. The same rule applies to skullcaps and crucifixes.
The panel concluded that the rule's language left too much room for interpretation. A law banning the "obvious" display of religious symbols would be easier to enforce.
Proponents of a law say that students who wear Muslim head scarves to school, just like civil servants who cover their heads on the job, are challenging the nation's secular underpinnings.
A bitter debate over whether the head covering can be worn in public schools, or by civil servants, has festered for nearly 15 years and deepened as France's Muslim children have grown up. Some see it as a flag of Islamic militancy.
Each year, there are about 150 complaints involving head scarves, according to Hanifa Cherifi, a French Education Ministry mediator. Unresolved cases lead to expulsion — fewer than 50 last year.