Will the French back off at a roar from Muslims? We shall see. That roar came Friday: "Thousands of Muslim worshipers shouted 'Death to France!' during weekly prayers here Friday in response to a sermon denouncing a proposal to prohibit Muslim schoolgirls in France from wearing head scarves." This from AFP, with thanks to filtrat.
"Ayatollah Ahmad Janati called on Islamic countries to 'threaten France with canceling contracts and to reconsider their relations with France' over the issue.
Last month, a committee of French experts recommended banning 'conspicuous' religious insignia from state schools, which are secular. This would include the hijab, or head scarf, skullcaps and large crucifixes.
"In a speech later, President Jacques Chirac of France came out in favor of the ban, which he wants written into law by the start of the next school year. But Janati assured worshipers that all that was necessary was 'a roar from Muslims, and the French would back off.' He called on the French authorities to 'let Muslim women express their freedom and carry out their religious obligations.'"
Hmm. The ban may not be the right course of action, but Janati is hypocritical in the extreme to start talking about religious freedom. Can non-Muslims -- particularly Bahais -- carry out their religious obligations freely in Iran?
"His comments were welcomed by shouts of 'Death to France!'
"Since Chirac spoke in favor of the ban on Dec. 17, Arab and Muslim countries have been voicing outrage, even if a few intellectuals dispute claims that Muslim women are bound by duty to wear the head scarf.
"Numerous Iranian officials, including President Mohammad Khatami and nearly 200 members of Parliament, have already called on the French authorities to reject the ban. Khatami said last week that the 'hijab is a religious necessity and its restriction is a sign of a kind of extreme nationalistic tendency.'
"On Monday, 150 students, including women in the head-to-foot chador, protested in front of the French Embassy in Tehran shouting 'Death to France!' and 'Death to Chirac the Zionist!'"
Chirac the Zionist. The ban of the kippa doesn't seem to have impressed them, eh? Of course, I encountered this yesterday on CSpan: anyone who challenges radical Muslims on any front must be ipso facto a Zionist Jew. These Muslims should wake up to the fact that opposition to the Sharia and its institutionalized discrimination against non-Muslims and women has a much broader base.
What France does or does not do is their problem. What I do see and what concerns me is the trend of all or nothing. No one is allowed to be different ie "non French." But again that is American thinking from a happily pluralist country.
The screams of "Death to France" is also frightening, especially when even secularist entities (Arafat comes to mind) are calling for Sharia.
Canada, (I read) has already given in to letting the Muslims govern their own above and beyond Canadian law. This is a frightening development for western societies. Religious freedom, and respect for others and their customs, must not be allowed to be overthrown. It may not be PC to say this but I strongly believe avery fundamental religious cult (would if they could) mandate their way is the only way. And use the issue of their religious freedom as an excuse to take away our freedoms to be or not be religious.
Rini,
Can you elaborate on the Canada thing?
Perhaps some details, more info...
Thanks.
FRANCE IS NOT A MULLAH NATION. THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES MUST BE FOLLOWED STRICTLY. NO RELIGION SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO DICTATE IT'S POLICIES.
THERE SHOULD BE A DRESS CODE IN SCHOOLS AND AT WORK. NO CITIZENS SHOULD BRING THEIR RELIGIOUS RIGHTS INTO THE BUSINESS WORLD. WEARING VEILS HAS NEVER BEEN PRODUCTIVE IN ANY INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY. THEIR SHOULD NEVER BE ANY FAVORABLE CONSIDERATIONS AT ANY JOB SITE. ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES HAVE ALWAYS LED TO FAILURE IN ANY INDUSTRIAL WORLD. ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS HAVE ALWAYS LED THE INDUSTRIES TO FAILURE. THEIR IS NO ROOM FOR ANY RELIGIOUS PHONETICS IN ANY INDUSTRY. ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES HAVE ALWAYS LED THE BUSINESSES TO PERMANENT FAILURE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
IN THE LONG RUN ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES WOULD LEAD ANY BUSINESS BACK TO THE DARK AGES.
I HAVE MADE THE ABOVE STATEMENT BASED ON MY 45 YRS OF PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD.
ALL THE ISLAMIC NATIONS HAVE TERRIBLY FAILED TO FEED THEIR OWN LET ALONE RUNNING A COUNTRY AND LEADING TO SUCCESS.
uhhhh baba please less shouting remember prozac is gooooood
Are we to believe that those Muslims shouting "Death to France" are the 'moderate, peaceful' Muslims that Mr. Spencer (among others) claims exist?
After some emails back and forth, Mr. Spencer said that there two kinds of non-militant Muslims - 1) those that are ignorant of what is in the Koran, and 2) those that ignore or overlook those 'distasteful' verses. I replied that all Muslims are time-bombs that can be set off by some mullahn or imam, hence, see above.
Budd, Budd, Budd. The existence of "moderate, peaceful Muslims" is simply a fact. I've seen them with my own eyes. As for the possibility that they can be radicalized, I've never denied it. It was abundantly proven recently in Lackawanna, NY, where an Al-Qaeda recruiter managed to get six secular Muslims to try to join up with Osama.
Yrs
RS
Whether Muslims want to make me a dhimmi by war or by peace, the end result is the same. Any Muslim who seeks to make me a dhimmi via the ballot box is a "Radical Muslim" that I must fight,same as I would fight a Muslim who seeks to make me a dhimmi by the sword.
Great site! On the issue at hand, France is wrong to impose this ban; despite what Baba says, people ought to be entitled to practice their faiths in public, unless this faith radically infringes on the freedoms of others. I cannot see how the wearing of veils, crucifixes, or other outward expressions of faith infringes on the freedom of another.
Muslim hypocrisy is on e thing, but the ban is wrong.
"THEIR IS NO ROOM FOR ANY RELIGIOUS PHONETICS IN ANY INDUSTRY."
Baba, you are just as narrow-minded as the Islamofascists, who seek to curtail the expression of other faiths -- only you wish to restrict the expression of ALL faiths. If freedom is to mean anything at all, it means that we are free to do as we choose, without some legalistic overlord government telling us what we may wear and what we may say.
~Tene
In ancient Rome, during the reign of Nero, the mayor of the city was murdered by one of his slaves. An old law, largely forgotten by this time, was resurrected to deal with the situation. It required that every one of the 400 slaves in his household, men, women, and children, be executed.
The order was carried out, but not without the serious objections of many senators and riots by the public. Security forces were called out for crowd control, and soldiers had to line the streets through which the slaves were paraded to the execution site.
After it was all over, a proposal was made to require all slaves to wear a uniform identifying them as such. The proposal was finally rejected because of the worry that if all the slaves in the city could identify each other, they would realize that they outnumbered the free population; the problems created by Spartacus generations before had not been forgotten.
I believe it would be very helpful for the French authorities not only to permit Muslim women and girls to wear their distinctive garb, but to require them to do so. This would make their presence very visible, and perhaps remind the French that their country is being invaded by a Fifth Column.
It might serve as a "wake-up call" for them.