On general principle, the government has no business telling people what they can/can't wear. If someone has a 'cultural imperative' to paint their face orange and walk around with their balls out, so be it. So no, a ban would be wrong.
Pragmatically, there are situations where this is untenable (e.g. motorcycle helmets in banks, balls out in public etc.) and here's where I think some exceptions should be applied. This causes problems where women refuse to take their veils off. We'd be effectively banning them from (for example) banks thus reducing their freedoms even further; not such a problem for every-day transactions which can be done on the internet but a problem for more complex, face-to-face transactions.
In terms of the 'cultural imperative' to wear a veil, as it roots from misogyny, I oppose it on egalitarian principles. I advocate a 'modernisation' of islam, including more enlightenment values and that's what we're seeing in the UK; fewer and fewer muslim women wear veils and fewer and fewer men 'require their women' to wear them. Efforts need to be focussed on spreading that message, worldwide while avoiding alienating muslims by legislating against their freedom to dress as they wish.
Pragmatically, there are situations where this is untenable (e.g. motorcycle helmets in banks, balls out in public etc.) and here's where I think some exceptions should be applied. This causes problems where women refuse to take their veils off. We'd be effectively banning them from (for example) banks thus reducing their freedoms even further; not such a problem for every-day transactions which can be done on the internet but a problem for more complex, face-to-face transactions.
In terms of the 'cultural imperative' to wear a veil, as it roots from misogyny, I oppose it on egalitarian principles. I advocate a 'modernisation' of islam, including more enlightenment values and that's what we're seeing in the UK; fewer and fewer muslim women wear veils and fewer and fewer men 'require their women' to wear them. Efforts need to be focussed on spreading that message, worldwide while avoiding alienating muslims by legislating against their freedom to dress as they wish.
Sum ergo sum
