children showing religion in school

[AlanG]

having just read this on BBC I'm putting to accompany the other religion thread. What are peoples views on students showing their religion in school, whether it is wearing a headscarf, a cross, praying in public or whatever:

"French headscarf ban recommended

Thousands of Muslim schoolgirls in France wear headscarves
Muslim girls in France could be barred from wearing headscarves in schools after an expert commission recommended a ban on "conspicuous" religious signs.

The official commission headed by former minister Bernard Stasi has released its findings on issues relating to religion and the state.

French President Jacques Chirac will announce next week whether he supports the commission's recommendation.

The ban would also include the Jewish skull-cap and large Christian crosses.

Discreet displays

Mr Stasi consulted a wide cross-section of public opinion, including teachers, religious leaders, sociologists and politicians before handing in the report to the president on Thursday.


Secularism is the separation of church and state, but it is also the respect of differences
Bernard Stasi

Although the report was into the wider question of French secularism, debate on the issue has focused on the wearing of Islamic headscarves in schools.

The commission's recommendations would outlaw the Jewish kippa, large Christian crosses and the Islamic headscarf, which would be considered overt religious symbols.

"Discreet" medallions and pendants which merely confirm a person's religious faith would be allowed.

"Muslims must understand that secularism is a chance for Islam," Mr Stasi told a news conference on Thursday.

"Secularism is the separation of church and state, but it is also the respect of differences."

The commission's proposed law was intended so people of all religions could "live together in public places", he said.

Mr 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.

Public holidays

The report also recommends that Yom Kippur - the Jewish Day of Atonement - and Muslim Eid al-Kabir festival be celebrated in state schools.

French public life has a strong secular tradition which has existed since the revolution, but the commission has now recommended that the plan be enshrined in law.


HAVE YOUR SAY
Wearing a headscarf should be looked at as a personal freedom, not as a sign of fundamentalism
Fatina Halawani, Jordan

Send us your comments
Mr Chirac has hinted that he could back a formal ban.

He said he would study the proposals, consider the opinions of "political parties, the religious authorities and the representatives of public opinion" and discuss them with the prime minister.

He will then announce his decision on 17 December.

"The objective is to guarantee freedom to every French citizen, with the only restriction that the common rules be respected," he said.

The proposals have prompted a mixed response.

Rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, said he would call on Muslims to respect any law, but he would ask for a grace period of several months "so that everyone can take stock of the fact that things have changed".

Moise Cohen, president of the Consistoire of Paris, which directs religious Jewish life, said he opposed a headscarf law because it could be viewed by Muslims as a discriminatory measure and could "exacerbate emotions".

Agonised debate

The proposals sparked a divided reaction from French anti-racism groups.

SOS-Racism said a new law would take the pressure off teachers, but the Movement Against Racism (MRAP) said that "one religion is clearly in the firing-line: Islam".

The issue has led to a number of celebrated cases where girls have been suspended or expelled for wearing headscarves to school.

Other schools have not acted.

France has the largest Muslim population in the European Union, with around five million people.

The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says the Islamic headscarf has become the focal point of an agonised national debate in France.

She said it reflects many of the nation's unspoken fears about its failure to fully integrate its Muslim immigrants or to give them a purely French cultural identity. "

Even though Im an agnostic atheist and a strong seporter of seperating religion and the state I am disgusted by this action. One of the fundamental human rights is the right to have a religious opinion without persecution. With the rise of the far right in France and the increasingly racist attacks on North Africans and Muslims there this can only inflame matters.

[Godsick]

This is an issue that has been around for quite some time :-

January 1999: French Teachers Strike Over Muslim Headscarves, RENNES, France (Reuters) - Tensions between Muslim fundamentalists and France's lay school system bubbled to the surface Wednesday as teachers at a junior high school in Normandy refused to teach Muslim students wearing headscarves. Teachers at other schools in and around the northwestern town of Flers announced plans for a mass demonstration and strike Friday in support of the teachers who have refused to report for work at the College Jean-Monnet since Monday. The majority of the school's teachers walked off the job after education authorities ordered the school to take in a 12-year-old student of Turkish origin whose family insisted that she wear an Islamic headscarf to class. Tuesday a second Muslim student sought to be enrolled after presenting a letter from her parents saying she too planned to cover her head with an Islamic-style scarf in school. Segolene Royale, junior minister for secondary education, sent a government mediator to Flers Wednesday morning. The current controversy has divided Flers, with a minority of teachers favoring the Muslim girls' enrollment and the town's association of Turkish residents criticizing the girls as isolated cases. Islam is France's second largest religion after Catholicism, estimated at four to five million people, most of them from former French colonies in North Africa. Controversy has simmered in France for years over the extent to which the school system had to accommodate Muslim students. But the dispute in Normandy marked the first time the issue had flared up since the current leftist government took power in mid-1997. In 1994, the conservative government then in power issued rules banning "ostentatious religious symbols" from secular state schools. It said the ban applied only to Islamic-style headscarves, however, and not to similar religious symbols like crosses worn on necklaces or Hebrew skull caps. Over a hundred girls were subsequently expelled from their schools while several hundred others defied the ban. The girls and their families said they were merely observing the Muslim religion but the French government and many teachers argued the scarves, as symbols of Islamic fundamentalism and the repression of women, were preventing their wearers from becoming integrated into French society.

This means basically that someone else is deciding exactly what someone should wear, different side of the same coin?

[humndislocation]

The point of seperation of religion and state, is so that people are not forced to observe a particular faith, or denied the opportunity of religious belief. This is absolutely ridiculous, the notion that people will be unable to "live in public places" with other people that choose to dress according to their faith is nonsense. It's just pandering to bigotry in my opinion. If you can't relate to someone because they choose to wear a headscarf, then quite simply, you are a bigot. It just goes to show how petty and small people really are. This isn't helping integration. Integration is allowing people to retain their culture, whilst still being a part of a different wider culture.

Firstly I don't see how someone could be offended by what someone else chooses to wear. Secondly, why do some people think they have the right not to be offended, to the extent that other people have to be forced to conform to their ideals to avoid offence.