Thread: France may ban Muslim veils

France may ban Muslim veils

PARIS (AP) — A top lawmaker from President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party filed legislation on Tuesday to bar Muslim women in France from appearing in public wearing veils that hide their faces.
The bill by lawmaker Jean-Francois Cope, who heads the UMP party in the National Assembly, or lower house, has sparked criticism from some of his political allies. The speaker of the lower house, Bernard Accoyer, called Cope's move "premature."

FAITH & REASON: Publix faces furor over Islamic holiday listing
SWITZERLAND: Voters ban new mosque minarets

A panel of lawmakers has held hearings for six months on the all-encompassing veils that cover all but a woman's eyes. It is to advise parliament by month's end whether it believes a law banning such garments is needed.

In further criticism from within Cope's own party, Labor Minister Laurent Wauquiez accused the lawmaker of using the debate over veils for self-promotion because he failed to await the conclusions of the parliamentary mission.

Sarkozy opened the debate on such veils in June, saying they aren't welcome in France — but without specifying whether he wants a law against them.

A 2004 law bans Muslim headscarves and other "ostentatious" religious symbols from classrooms. Only a tiny minority of Muslim women in France wear the more extreme covering — which is not required by Islam. However, Islam is the No. 2 religion in France after Roman Catholicism, and authorities worry that such dress may be a gateway to extremism. They also say it amounts to an insult to women and to France's secular foundations.

There has been concern over how any law banning the full veil could be presented without infringing on constitutional rights.

Cope's approach is based on public order and safety. Article 1 of his proposal stipulates that "no one, in places open to the public or on streets, may wear an outfit or an accessory whose effect is to hide the face" except those with legitimate motives formally recognized. This was an apparent reference to certain cultural events and carnivals such as Mardi Gras, which Cope said last week would be exempt from his legislation.

Women failing to abide by the law, were it passed, would be subject to fines that could reach euro750 ($1,070), according to a summary by Cope last week.

He also introduced on Tuesday a parallel resolution — which does not carry the weight of law — stressing the importance of respecting the nation's values "in the face of the development of radical practices which harm them." The resolution states that all-enveloping veils harm "dignity and equality between men and women" and are contrary to French values.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2 ... slim_N.htm

RELATED

Britain to outlaw Islam4UK, which some say glorifies terrorism

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1004437.html#1004437

RELATED

Immigrants riot in Italy amid racial unrest

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1004599.html

France to Ban Muslim Veil in Public Buildings

Monday, January 25, 2010 10:11 AM

PARIS – A French parliamentary panel will recommend a ban on face-covering Muslim veils in public areas from hospitals to schools but will stop short of pressing for the garb to be outlawed in the street, the panel's president says.

The 32-member panel's report due Tuesday culminates a six-month inquiry into the wearing of all-encompassing veils that began after President Nicolas Sarkozy said in June that they are "not welcome" on French territory.

Andre Gerin, a Communist lawmaker who heads the multiparty panel, said the report contains a "multitude of proposals" to ban such garb in places like schools, hospitals and other public buildings, but not private buildings or on the street. He said the proposals would cover "domains that concern everyday society," a phrase that would seem to include public transportation, although he did not mention that specifically.

Gerin stressed the need to move "progressively" toward a law banning the attire in the streets and to work "hand in hand" with Muslim leaders and associations.

Critics of the veils call them a gateway to extremism, an insult to gender equality and an offense to France's secular system. A 2004 French law bans Muslim headscarves from classrooms.

Muslim religious leaders have warned that a law banning face-covering attire in the streets could stigmatize Muslims and drive some to extremism. They were joined last week by Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders who said they consider such a drastic step unnecessary.

France has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, estimated at some 5 million. Only a tiny minority of Muslim women wear such attire, usually a "niqab" pinned across the face to cover all but the eyes.

"It is perhaps a marginal problem, but it is the visible part of the iceberg," Gerin said in a Friday interview. "Behind the iceberg is a black tide of ... fundamentalism." He denounced those he called "gurus" or "French Taliban" who, he claimed, promote a radical brand of Islam that forces women and girls to hide themselves.

Critics of a formal ban have raised concerns about the constitutionality of state mandates on dress.

"I don't think an ideology should be fought through constraining measures but through ideas," Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of a coalition of Muslim organizations, said in an interview. "It's very difficult to talk about the liberation of women through a law that constrains."

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.newsmaxworld.com/global_talk ... 11876.html

French lawmakers want limits on Muslim face veil

PARIS (AP) — A parliamentary panel that wants Muslim women to stop veiling their faces recommended Tuesday that France ban such garb in public facilities, including hospitals and mass transit, and a leading panel member said he foresees such an interdiction by the end of 2010.

The nearly 200-page report contains a panoply of measures intended to dissuade women from wearing all-enveloping veils in France. It also recommends refusing residence cards and citizenship to anyone with visible signs of a "radical religious practice."

ON DEADLINE: Panel calls veils 'contrary to the values of the republic'
U.S. SURVEY: Muslims face more bias than other faiths
FAITH & REASON: The less we know, the more we fear

However, there is no call to outlaw such garments — worn by a tiny minority of Muslims — in private areas and in the street. A full ban was the major issue that divided the 32-member, multiparty panel which ultimately heeded warnings that a full ban risked being deemed unconstitutional and could even cause trouble in a country where Islam is the second-largest religion.

The report, which culminates six months of hearings, was formally presented to the president of the National Assembly, the lower house, Bernard Accoyer, and made public.

Conservative lawmaker Eric Raoult, the panel's No. 2 member, said later that he foresaw a limited ban in the public sector "before the end of the year."

"We need maybe six months or a little more to explain what we want," he told The Associated Press, adding that "by the end of 2010" there could be such an interdiction.

Accoyer was more vague but told a news conference that "we can certainly find solutions in a brief time."

Universities, hospitals, public transport and post offices would be among areas included in a limited ban on the all-encompassing veil.

As envisaged by the panel, such a ban would require that people show their faces when entering the facility and "keep the face uncovered throughout their presence," the report says.

Failure to do so would result "in a refusal to deliver the service demanded." That means, for instance, that a woman seeking state funds commonly accorded to mothers would walk away empty-handed.

A parliamentary resolution condemning such garb, with no legal weight and the easiest measure to pass, would be likely to precede concrete initiatives.

The veil is widely viewed in France as a gateway to extremism, an insult to gender equality and an offense to France's secular foundation. A 2004 French law bans Muslim headscarves from primary and secondary school classrooms.

The language in the report was carefully chosen in an effort to avoid offending France's estimated 5 million Muslims — the largest such population in western Europe — and accusations of discrimination. Muslim leaders have already complained that the debate over the full veil coupled with an ongoing debate on French national identity has left some Muslims feeling their religion is becoming a government target.

The panel went to work, taking testimony from more than 200 experts and others, after President Nicolas Sarkozy said in June that veils that hide the face are "not welcome" on French territory.

Such veils are thought to be worn by only several thousand Muslim women who, most often, pin a "niqab" across their faces, hiding all but the eyes. Worn with a long, dark robe, such clothing is customarily associated with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

The report puts an emphasis on educating women who wear the robes in France about the rules of the Republic.

Any action on the report would not come before March regional elections.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2 ... slim_N.htm

Critics of a formal ban have raised concerns about the constitutionality of state mandates on dress.

"I don't think an ideology should be fought through constraining measures but through ideas," Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of a coalition of Muslim organizations, said in an interview. "It's very difficult to talk about the liberation of women through a law that constrains."

Too bad, don't like it? Then shut up and go live in a Muslim country! Enough with this PC BULL!