France's Problem with Religious Expression in Public

I wrote:

"In general, rights in European nations resemble the rights of our First Amendment although there are significant exceptions."

France is an exception. It has serious issues about public displays of religious observance. The primary target today is France's Muslim citizens, of whom there are a rather large number.

An article by Steven Erlanger concerning French confusion about organized religion. "Burqa Furor Scrambles the Political Debate in France," The New York Times, Tuesday, September 1, 2009 — PARIS.

According to the article,

In France, the principle of citizens' rights, equality, and secularism has run up against the right of Muslim women to wear in public what is being called the burqa.

Actually, these Muslim women are wearing what is really a niqab. The niqab is a head scarf that also covers a girl's or woman's neck. Her face is completely visible.

Two women in this photo from Iraq are wearing a hijab.
Photo Copyright © 2009 USA Today, Wednesday, September 23, 2009

[According to a Muslim woman from Saudi Arabia studying at the UMKC campus, the New York Times has made a mistake. The photo which accompanies the Times article shows Muslim women marching together on a French street, and they are wearing hijabs, not niqabs. We see Muslim women on the UMKC campus wear the hijab.

[A niqab (according to this student) is a hijab with the lower part lifted to cover the mouth and nose. We might wear a winter scarf in this way to protect our breathing in the most frigid weather.]

The French are uncomfortable with organized religion since the 1789 revolution and the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church as the national religion.

Also, the French associate the niqab with the repression, servitude, and degradation of women.

France took from the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau the principle that no immediate group or affiliation should stand between the citizen and the state which represents the general interest.

In fact, it was not until 1901 that the French state allowed some unions or associations.

It seems that there is permanent demand for legislating against Muslims in France.