Movement on banning the burqa across Eruope and the US. How about the other limits on women from other religions

There is a huge movement in Europe and even now in the US to ban the burqa. Many say the burqa leads to huge sexual discrimination against women of Islam. I agree with this premise but my question is this.

Doesn't this same discrimination and treatment exist in other orthodox religions? Look at some of the fundamentalist christian and jewish sects who insist their women dress "modestly" as to not tempt men. Its the same line of thinking. It is always about the power of men over women.

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on April 11, 2011 at 5:46pm

First and foremost, it is a security threat. How to know if they are criminals, child molesters, or terrorists wanting to blow themselves up in disguise?? Second, it violates the dignity of women and the secular values which are part of free societies. In contrast, we as atheists are to be executed on the spot by such believers of these people. In addition, I am sure this will be liberating to many women who are forced to wear such burqa covering their face by their husbands and family and will not have a little bit of dignity while going to work and commuting. In addition, they can still wear a veil but just not cover their entire faces. We don't have this problem in America as our Muslims are not this extreme and even the extremist Islamic Republic of Terror don't force the Iranian people to cover up like that and in fact most religious Muslims still show their face. This is the extremist of extremist of Muslims and we must not jeopardize our values of secularism, dignity, and women's rights.

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Permalink Reply by Gaetano on April 14, 2011 at 6:13am

To be honest, whilst I don't see how the burqa is a necessity for a Muslim woman (I've heard every excuse under the sun, and when they try to justify it they just sound like people in denial), I think the driving force has been Christian pacification, and NOT a threat of security. The threat of security is present, but I think this ban has more to do with differentiation and a fear of something different. We don't and cannot accept it, especially "vague" and conservative Christians that would prefer a singular, consistent culture.

Yes, one of the driving factors is a fear of security, but I think religion itself is behind this, er, banning of religiously-driven social habits.

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Permalink Reply by Big Fella on April 14, 2011 at 6:37am

I wouldn't say that religion is behind this Gaetano.

France for instance is a highly secularized country, none of the political parties involved in the Burqa ban had a confessional character as far as I know. It's not the fear of Islam per se that instigated this new law, although it probably plays some role, it's more the threat of anonymity in public life. This is considered a security threat as well as that a lot of (secular) people believe that the Burqa hinders the women that wear to interact with society.

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Permalink Reply by Cathy L. on April 19, 2011 at 12:33am

I don't agree with the ideas behind the burqa, and I think most of those women are terribly held back to say the least. But I don't think anyone should be telling anyone what to wear, no matter what the reason may be.