According to French media reports, a 15-year-old French Muslim girl was banned from her class twice for wearing a skirt that was too long, and therefore supposedly a conspicuous display of religion. France’s state secularism has led to very strict laws prohibiting students from wearing overtly religious symbols in institutions of education. The student, identified as Sarah, already apparently…
“No matter how much good you bestow upon a woman, she will deny it. Her selfishness drives her to deny it,” stated imam Mohamed Khattabi during a Friday sermon at the Aicha Mosque in Montpellier on March 6, two days before International Women’s Day. Standing in the mosque’s minbar, Khattabi continued: “This holds true for…
The Federal Constitutional Court decided that “a General Ban on Headscarves For Teachers at State Schools is Not Compatible With the Constitution”. Despite of the plead for the freedom of religion, the judges argued that headscarves could be banned when “turning to a dangerous signal”. Addressing the State of North-Rhine Westphalia, the court underlined that…
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Education, wants to reestablish the possibility for veiled women to accompany classes on school field trips. This change would also apply to women who wear kippot or Sikh turbans. The debate promises to be quite polemical, given the extreme opinions on the subject. Since March 27, 2012, the Chatel Circular, instituted…
Nadine Morano, politician and member of the UMP, caused a scene at Gare de l’Est in Paris after seeing a fully veiled woman waiting for a train. “Ranting and thundering,” she called for local police in the train station. The woman was wearing a niqab, and not a burqa as Morano contended. After summoning the…
