Belgian parliament votes to ban Islamic veils in public
In a positive sign on Europe's fighting back against Islamization, Belgium's parliament has voted to ban Muslim veils in public (Hat tip: Prairie Pundit):
PARIS -- Belgian lawmakers on Thursday passed a nationwide ban prohibiting women from wearing full-face Islamic veils in public places, the first move of its kind in Western Europe.I think the next debate in Europe should be about minarets, but for now, the problems with veils is definitely something that must be confronted. Not to mention the serious case of Muslim males who condone violence against women who don't bow to their alleged superiority.
The unanimous vote in the lower house of Parliament came in response to growing irritation in Belgium and other West European countries over the increasing numbers and visibility of Muslims whose customs and attitudes often present a challenge to the continent's largely Christian heritage.
The French government, after months of rancorous debate, has pledged to pass a similar nationwide ban by September, a promise denounced by Muslims as "stigmatization" of their religion. President Nicolas Sarkozy decided last week to introduce the bill despite a warning from the country's constitutional court that a blanket prohibition would probably be unconstitutional.
"The burqa has no place in France," he said.
Similar bills have been introduced in the parliaments of Italy and the Netherlands, where local jurisdictions have already imposed more-limited anti-veil measures. Two dozen communities in Belgium also have decreed local bans, including Brussels, the capital.
According to Human Rights Watch, the U.S.-based advocacy group, political figures in Switzerland and Austria have suggested that legislation such as Belgium's would be a good idea in their countries as well. Farther north, Denmark's government issued a statement in January saying the full-face veil was out of sync with Danish values, but decided against legislation because few women wear such garments.
Swiss voters, in a referendum in December, barred Muslims from building minarets, or towers, to call the faithful to prayer. Their vote, widely decried as anti-Islamic by Muslim and human rights groups, generated favorable comment from conservative French politicians along with suggestions that France should impose a similar minaret ban.
Labels: belgium, Europe, France, islam, Italy, misogyny, Netherlands, Scandanavia
"The unanimous vote in the lower house of Parliament came in response to growing irritation in Belgium and other West European countries over the increasing numbers and visibility of Muslims whose customs and attitudes often present a challenge to the continent's largely Christian heritage."
Not exactly. Though I am all for the ban and it has no place in the European standards, norms and values, the viel nor the burqa are in fact "Islamic". They are cultural-tribal customs that radical Muslims have adopted - because the love to think that anything peninsular-arab must be Islamic. They even cannot argue that it was the way in the time of Mohammed - it was not and there is no evidence at all that women had viels, or anything like the burqa.
What should also be pointed out is that the majority of Muslims countries do not support viels or the burqa and they are minority. Both should not be confused with the hijab which is a modesty item that can be considered Islamic by many. The ban in Belgium or the plans by France do not include it. Burqas are banned in many public places, government buildings and schools in Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and in parts of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The viel is banned in government buildings in Iran. The recently deceased head of the the number one school of Islamic Jurispudence said that the burqa and viel were not Islamic and that both were banned from that institution.
It is good to have context.
The ban in Belgium has, unlike the quote above, nothing to do with culture or standards, it was given on the grounds of security only. I have no problems of it being banned for breaching standards and norms - the word Christian - never came into it.
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5/03/2010 07:52:00 AM