.EVERY FEW years the French get worked up regarding an item of religious clothing that they regard as inappropriate in the class. This time a dispute has broken out at la rentru00e9e, the begin of the brand new year, over a government selection to prohibit from state colleges the abaya, a full-length robe put on by some Muslim women for discreetness. To folks in nations with a heritage of liberal multiculturalism, the ban appears like an unwanted breach of the right to religious expression.
To defenders of a stringent version of French secularism, it is a solution necessary to defend the republic coming from religious obstruction. Why is France thus concerned regarding Muslim dress in its schools?