What are the implications of banning religious items of clothing or jewelry (e.g France is a country that “treasures the principle of secularism” and imposes many different constraints on religious symbols in schools and government*)?
I believe that while France does have a point to ban all religious wear, it isn’t just. Different religions have different ways of expressing themselves and therefore, this law doesn’t affect all religions equally. Which is unjust. We can’t target single religions just based on their unique culture. If France really wanted to go secular, they would ban religion completely. But of course, they could never do this because 63-66% of the population is catholic which would lead to a huge uproar. It is also interesting to note that this law on banning the wear of religious items doesn’t affect the catholic majority that much. However, it has a huge impact on the Muslim minority which only makes up 7-9% of France’s population. For this reason, these laws aren’t just and only perpetuate the divide in the population.
Do you think banning religious symbols has any value or is this just removing basic rights/freedoms?
I believe that if this law impacted all religions equally, it would have some value. However, in this case, it seems clear that the Muslim community suffers the largest blow. Therefore, I do believe that this just removes basic human rights. People have the right to their own expression and in most cases, what brings together any community are their differences. As long as no one other than the individual wearing the religious symbol is impacted greatly, people should have the freedom to wear what they want.
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