Banning face coverings

[robvalue]

This is a general discussion about whether or not banning face coverings in public is a good thing. This obviously is primarily concerned with the veil worn over the face by some Muslim women, although I would hope that any law would be across the board about face coverings in general.

France has banned this, and recently Denmark has too. (My wife informed me, I don't watch the news very much.) I used to be of the opinion that it should just have a blanket ban here in England, but I've come to realize the issue is much more complex.

It's clear to me that no women ends up wearing this of her own free choice. It just doesn't happen. I appreciate many women feel they are making a free choice, and would find me saying this hugely patronizing. I understand that. But since we're on an atheist forum here, us atheists probably agree that almost every case is going to be the result of indoctrination into Islam. Virtually no non-Muslims decide it would be a good idea to cover their faces up, and we know that Muslims are going to be coerced, if not downright forced, into wearing them. If you're told about how God wants you to from an early age and this is drilled into the programming of your brain, the idea that you're freely choosing to wear it is quite ridiculous.

Of course, I see such women as victims. Sometimes, they are going to be part of communities where they will be punished for not wearing it. Sometimes, it will be more liberal, but they'll still face some sort of dishonor if they don't comply. Sometimes there may be no external pressure left at all, but we all know that the "choice" to continue has been implanted in the first place.

A ban would make including this in indoctrination harder. This would, I hope, be a benefit to all women yet to be born into Islam. But the price would probably be heavy for all the women currently wearing them. My wife pointed out to me that even in England, there are some extreme Muslim subcommunities that the police are frightened to enter. Enforcing such a ban here would be very hard, and if it was done, it could result in women becoming prisoners in their home. They might not be let out in public at all.

I'll be curious to see how it works out in Denmark, and if anyone has any experience or information about how it's all played out in France, I'd be interested to hear. I certainly think that when there are laws already in place for security measures, such as in airports, there should be no religious exemption. But pushing a ban further than that is an issue I'm much divided on. On one hand, I want people to be free to do whatever they want, as long as they don't hurt people. On the other, I'm all too aware it is a result of religious oppression, and it can put up barriers.