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Banning the burqa is a bad idea
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One of the aspects of the French Revolution that has persisted in some European cultures ever since is anti-clericalism. While, on the one hand, the complicity of the French clergy in the excesses of the Ancien Régime could have, some have argued, indicted them for crimes against the French people, on the other hand, anti-religious repressive equal to or in excess of the previous government's is just as wrong. The French do not seem to have learned this historical lesson, except now the target is not the Catholic Church but religion in general.
As reported widely, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is planning to ban the wearing of the burqa in France. This comes after similar measures against the wearing of any religious symbols — including crucifixes and yarmulkes — in French schools.
Granted, France does not have the history of free speech and expression that we have based on our First Amendment, but the editorial "Ban the Burqa" by Mona Eltahawy, published on the New York Times Web site, comes out strongly in favor of a measure that, in the United States, would never get past a circuit court — a measure the Supreme Court would likely decline to even hear.
I know the arguments against the burqa. I believe, like most moderate Muslims, that it is not sanctioned by Islamic law and more a matter of exercising control over women than honoring the Qur'an and the prophet of Islam. Furthermore, there are purposes for which a burqa or full face covering by Muslim woman — e.g., when said women are being photographed for purposes of identification (driver's licenses, passports, etc.) — is not at all practical.
And, of course, there is the most potent argument of all against the burqa, i.e., that it is a way in which Muslim husbands exercise the most cruel form of control over their wives. But here's a point to consider: We in the United States accept that, while a man beating his wife is illegal, we cannot compel a woman to leave an abusive husband. By extension, if a woman is being abused psychologically by her husband in being made to wear a burqa (we can't entertain the notion that the government is doing it in France when the same government is seeking to ban it), banning the burqa will not stop the innately abusive nature of this husband, nor will it compel the wife to leave him.
Ultimately, if this is the rationale behind banning the burqa, then it's an insult to the free will of women who live in free societies, such as France. Sarkozy needs to drop this issue, which vaguely reeks of xenophobia anyway, and get down to addressing way in which to best integrate the Arab and North African populations in France.
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