Tuesday, June 23, 2009
1791: Why Sarkozy couldn't sign the Bill of Rights
Many scholars of the French Enlightenment influenced the U.S. Constitution. In the last decade, France's political elite have poised the country as less accepting of civil liberties, like those in the U.S. Bill of Rights.
In 2004, France banned all overt religious signs, like burqas, kippas and crosses, in public schools. But President Nicholas Sarkozy wants to extend the policy to a nationwide ban on the burqa. The wearing of a burqa is an Islamic tradition for the purpose of cloaking a woman's body. Muslim women wear it over their daily clothing and remove it upon returning to the household.
France has the largest Muslim population in western Europe, at 5 million. National sentiments between Muslims and non-Muslims are tense both because of France's history as a Catholic society and due to the large Muslim immigrant population that competes for jobs with French natives. Other European countries like The Netherlands forbids burqas in state schools and are considering nation-wide prohibitions.
Despite protests by some Muslim women, Sarkozy says that the burqa oppresses women by keeping them hidden from society.
"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," Mr Sarkozy told a special session of parliament in Versailles, according to the BBC.
French cabinet members are divided on whether a ban is appropriate.
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution would eliminate Sarkozy's proposal: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
According to The Huffington Post, Obama tried to be sympathetic to France's autonomy and history, but he made a clear statement about individual rights while visiting Normandy earlier this month.
"I will tell you that in the United States our basic attitude is, is that we're not going to tell people what to wear," he said.
Islamic traditions are sometimes polarized to the point of inhibiting women from a free and fulfilling life. (See earlier post about Afghanistan and Sharia law.) But France's burqa ban will only widen the rift between non-Muslims and Muslims.
In 2004, France banned all overt religious signs, like burqas, kippas and crosses, in public schools. But President Nicholas Sarkozy wants to extend the policy to a nationwide ban on the burqa. The wearing of a burqa is an Islamic tradition for the purpose of cloaking a woman's body. Muslim women wear it over their daily clothing and remove it upon returning to the household.
France has the largest Muslim population in western Europe, at 5 million. National sentiments between Muslims and non-Muslims are tense both because of France's history as a Catholic society and due to the large Muslim immigrant population that competes for jobs with French natives. Other European countries like The Netherlands forbids burqas in state schools and are considering nation-wide prohibitions.
Despite protests by some Muslim women, Sarkozy says that the burqa oppresses women by keeping them hidden from society.
"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," Mr Sarkozy told a special session of parliament in Versailles, according to the BBC.
French cabinet members are divided on whether a ban is appropriate.
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution would eliminate Sarkozy's proposal: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
According to The Huffington Post, Obama tried to be sympathetic to France's autonomy and history, but he made a clear statement about individual rights while visiting Normandy earlier this month.
"I will tell you that in the United States our basic attitude is, is that we're not going to tell people what to wear," he said.
Islamic traditions are sometimes polarized to the point of inhibiting women from a free and fulfilling life. (See earlier post about Afghanistan and Sharia law.) But France's burqa ban will only widen the rift between non-Muslims and Muslims.
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