Good!!

It's about time this archaic, demeaning practice was made more unwelcome in more of the world.

Oh come on now, we all know it's just because the French guys want to be able to properly oggle all the women

/stereotypes

I have a huge problem with burqhas if women would rather not wear them but are forced to do so. I have no problem, usually, with any clothes a person may choose to wear. I don't think it's fair to condemn a certain type of clothing. Can we request M. Sarkozy also say the baggy-pants look that is so popular here in N. America be unwelcome in France as well?

That said, I can understand the problems associated with an item of clothing that obstructs someone's face excepting those situations of extreme windchill.

He may have good intentions but it comes off as just racist. If i were a devout Muslim who believed in wearing a burqa, whether my ideals need to be fixed or not, to be made unwelcome because of what I wear due to religious belfiefs is pretty messed up. Dress is defined in a lot of religions. not necessarily so extremely, but still.

It's not racist. The Burqa is attire of Islamic religions. There are Muslims of many different races.

When someone says something anti-jewish it's called antisemetic. I don't know the term for something against the muslim religion so I went with racist. sorry, my vocabulary fails me here.

The Jews are a race of people though. You can't become a Jew. You can become a Muslim though, it's a religion not a race.

I just thought I'd pick up on the whole racism thing though as this is most definitely not racist.

You could describe it as anti-religious but I wouldn't agree.

There has to be a point when if a religion dictates or interprets their holy book in such a way that demands what the rest of the world considers backwards, unhelpful, unethical or whatever it may be, that secular authority should be able to step in and say, "Whoa, believe what you want but you ain't doing that crazy s**t in our country".

The world needs freedom from organised religion and Neanderthal superstition if it has any chance of moving on to greater things.

I'm not for dictating to individuals what they can or can't believe but organised, at least IMO, has been and will continue if left unchecked to ruin society


To my mind this is another "Yay" for a secular country standing up to the idiocy of religion.

Jews are also a race so you can be racist against them.

Not everyone considers Judaism to be a race, some think of it just as a religion and you can convert to it.

you can convert to become Muslim

and there isn't a Jewland where if you are born there you are automatically Jewish. I'm not trying to be condescending at all, I just want to point that out. It's one of the reasons why people debate whether or not Judaism is really a race or just a religion. I believe it's just a religion. The characteristics of a 'classic' Jew are characteristics of people in the countries they come from. Polish or Middle Eastern - that's their race, Judaism is their religion. That's what I think anyway.

You didn't say Judaism, you said Jews.

I pointed out the the Jews are a race of people. Not geographically placed but a race non-the-less.

I don't think you can be racist towards any religion as all religions are open to all races as far as I know.

I know there's no 'Jewland' the same as there's no 'Blackland' but you can still be racist to black people.

The point stands that you can't be racist towards a religion that includes many different races within it's membership.

That's what I said.

Burqa is pretty much not Islamic per se. The Burqa is a product of dogma and culture, not so much of the religion. There are many (the vast majority) of muslim faith who are against the Burqa, using the same arguments as Sarkozy does.

The Burqa is an Islamic garment, stemming from hijab. It's not mentioned specifically in the Quran but as is the case with 99.9% of religious tradition it comes from mans interpretation of the book.

You're right in the respect that it's not used by all Islamic traditions but it's Islamic attire non-the-less.

It's about time that religion stopped getting a free pass on everything. Any time that someone wants to do something insane, all they have to do is claim religious reasons and everyone just goes along with it. This is a practice that needs to end.

According to my French coworker even Muslim religious leaders are against burqas in France because it is not a religious requirement and it is false to claim it to be a requirement. Just like a cross on a necklace is not a requirement for Christians.

I would like to point out that THE LAST thing that French men do is Oogle... I say this because of the myriad of nude beaches and the fact that so many women there already sunbathe topless... That's number 1

Number 2

I agree with Hypersapien in the fact that religion needs to stop getting a free pass on everything.

Muslim people want to emigrate to another country where some of their practices are not permitted solely because the consequences of not exercising those practices is also not permitted then they need to emigrate to another country. (If you don't wear a burqa you get publicly stoned, public stoning is illegal)

This is not their home country, if they don't like and cannot make an effort to integrate then they should stay home.

I equate this to making all illegal immigrants to the US LEARN English in order to prosper in this country. No more, no less...

off topic but i just noticed the google ad:

That is one of the bigoted statements I have heard in a long time. Interestingly enough according to science (and not religion) Neaderthals were not related to man at all so any superstition they had would have nothing to do with ours...hmmm. Religion has been with us as far back into history as you would care to look. It has been the cause of many terrible things, but it has also been the catalyst for many great things. You may not like it but religion is here to stay!
As for the whole burkha argument. I live among people who wear them all the time, and no it is not a religious requirement, but some women enjoy wearing them. As one woman told me "how else can we do things without our husbands knowing?" I don't think they should be forced attire, but I think if a woman wants to wear one, then it's no different than a mini-skirt. Freedom of religion means that she has the freedom to do so.

I'm not intolerant of people who have a different opinion to mine. If you read my comments here, I have no problem with what anyone believes. I have a problem with organised religion.

I was using Neanderthal as an adjective. The slang definition of the word if you will


Any examples? Some religious people may have done great things but organised religion?


I hope not. Religious beliefs? No problem. Religious organisations in general? I hope not