Cobb

Seperate but equal? Couldn't you have used a better phrase? And remember that most Muslim schools refuse females.

"It is for the protection in public schools of those muslims who choose not to wear outward religious symbols from the intimidation of those who say they must."
Huh? I think wearing the head-covering is a silly and patriarchal holdover, but go after the intimidators who do not wish to assimilate, rathr than the intimated who might wish to join the twentieth - if not the twenty-first - century. Banning scarves (and "large" crosses, etc.) is more divisive than inclusive. Worse, for the inflammatory Islamists it is a talking point - "See, they don't want us anyway!"

On this one issue, I go with Norm. Or would it also be OK to ban wigs, as Orthodox Jewish women wear, and the yarmulke of Jewish males? Perhaps a case may be made against older Sikh teens (not sure, I think fifteen or sixteen) wearing their religion-ordained knives, but I would rather it were not.

I still think you and Norm are misinterpreting the rule. So I'll now resort to the analogy I implied in the title.

At your neighborhood highschool, members of the gangsta rap clique are all wearing doo rags and styptic tape, like our friend Nelly. Now all the people in the music program are being ridiculed and harrassed for not wearing same kind of uniform. Now what is the response of the school? Surely rap is a legitimate form of music, but do rapping zealots have the right to harass those who don't express their style similarly?

Let us not forget that concurrent with this decision was the official granting of two religious holidays. This is not about chipping away the rights of religious expression, it is about protecting the moderates from the zealots. I think the French schools should be commended for their refusal to allow this kind of bullying to take place under the cover of freedom of expression.

As for separate but equal, I definitely want to draw the parallel to racial integration in the United States as I draw from those lessons well-learned. There is a difference between assimilation and integration but often it seems to be a very fine line. In any case, the benefits of living in an open society should devolve to individuals who choose to. A secular, pluralist society should defend those who make such choices by refusing some groups' claim on their appropriate behavior. When it becomes disruptive and coercive, as it apparently has in France, the law should be used.

What is to be gained by Muslim zealots who would have every Muslim make that their priority? Surely there is some value in the zealot's priority. But this priority cannot take precedence the public square. The Muslim desiring conformity must present their case most explicitly in a domain of their own control. As they are free to do so in France, they should exercise that right, understanding how it must be balanced with freedom of conscience.

I need doo rages thats head banning in school

i wore a pink shirt and a black shirt under it and i got introuble,i wore a black and a pink arm band and i had to take one off.i cant wear head bands,i hate that my school and people think tbats bad its not lie im in a gang there all gay