Once Again.... If You Don't Like France...

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I'm quite surprised I'm the only one here who seems to have a problem with this. Are there any other religious symbols or items of clothes people want to be made illegal?

I share your concern about freedom, and laud it.

I only think the niqab ban makes sense because of identification issues. There have been instances of jihadis using facial veils to facilitate their attacks, and I think any businessman has every right to expect that his customers shall willingly expose their faces for security purposes.

Thus, I'm against any ban of burkas / chadores, but definitely support a ban on facial veils, no matter the religious justification of lack thereof.

Also, it's total BS that the burka/niquab etc are religious symbols. They're more an import to other Muslim countries from the Saudi peninsula.

A friend of mine studied war poetry from Sierra Leone as part of her PhD research and had/has many interactions with Muslims there. At the beginning of her research some 8 years ago nobody wore the burka. Today it's much more common place as the influence from more conservative ideologies permeates from the east.

Nobody was considered shamefull for not wearing so called 'Islamic' dress there.