07.20.08
Freedom of Religion or Freedom from Oppression?
Earlier this week I saw an article in World Wide Religious News (http://wwrn.org/article.php?idd=29090) that said in France they are denying citizenship to a particular Moroccan woman because she wears a burqa. “The Moroccan woman, Faiza M, was told that her practice of “radical” Islam was not compatible with French values. ” the article said.
I am still trying to figure out a response to this - not that anyone asked me! But….well, there must be plenty of French citizens doing things that are not compatible with French values….and they are not denied citizenship. What are French values anyway? Plenty of people in France choose not to drink wine. Isn’t that a French value? It certainly has seemed to be anytime I have ever been there!
On a more serious note, isn’t the French motto: “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité? I can see where someone might think the woman wearing a burqa, or more likely the husband supposedly forcing her to do so, violates the idea of égalité.” If she were égale” she would be free to show her face in public and wear cooler clothes in hot weather, right?
But maybe she doesn’t want to? In this case I would say denying her right to citizenship violates her right to “liberté.” What happened to the “liberté” to wear what you want? Or am I being too American and confusing that with the right to freedom of religion?
Why would the French government feel free to moralize on this issue? Are they not showing a shameful amount of supériorité? I am trying to figure out what spiritual stage a person would likely be who felt their way was so superior to someone else’s that they would publicly deny citizenship to this woman solely on the basis of her choice of clothing.
The court decision was backed by Urban Affairs Minister Fadela Amara, who herself is a French born Muslim of Algerian descent. I suppose her backing of this court decision marks for her a way to fight the oppression of women. I suppose from her position inside the same religion, she has a better view than I of what wearing that burqa signifies.
Yet, I find myself shocked that a supposedly modern government would stoop to interest itself in clothing decisions of its citizens, or potential citizens. Certainly the woman is harming no one by wearing that burqa. My feeling is that Ms. Amara’s position and that of the court which decided against the Moroccan woman, arose out of fear. Fear that the burqa could one day be imposed on all women? How preposterous! Fear that their daughters would take up burqa? Also unlikely. So what would they be afraid of? The article quotes Ms. Amara as saying: ”she hoped the court’s ruling might in future ‘dissuade certain fanatics from imposing the burqa on their wives.’ ” Ok so that’s it!
But I don’t know. Still being too American I guess. I am still looking for freedom of religion. Freedom to choose certain things for one’s own life. A government official making a decision that violates someone’s personal liberty in something so basic as clothing choice has no place in our modern world. I suppose our country is not the only one whose leadership has been overrun with ethnocentric (ours is the only right way) concepts. From leaders of a civilized country, I would have expected more…..