France French Muslims Reopen Headscarf, Holiday Debate en>fr fr>en
By TexanForever  Comments: 15243, member since Thu Jun 10, 2004On Sun Mar 27, 2005 04:38 PM
France's largest Muslim organization has urged the state to rethink its ban on Islamic headscarves in schools and to recognize Islamic holy days, reopening a debate most French thought was closed. <br />
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The Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), broadest of several groups representing Europe's largest Muslim minority, charged at the weekend that Paris limited religious freedom by expelling veiled schoolgirls and ignoring three Muslim feast days. <br />
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The Muslims will own Francistan in a few more years. .... The Politically correct Socialist left will make it easy for them.<br />
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French Muslims Reopen Headscarf, Holiday Debate
Sun Mar 27, 3:49 AM ET
By Tom Heneghan
LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) - France's largest Muslim organization has urged the state to rethink its ban on Islamic headscarves in schools and to recognize Islamic holy days, reopening a debate most French thought was closed.
The Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), broadest of several groups representing Europe's largest Muslim minority, charged at the weekend that Paris limited religious freedom by expelling veiled schoolgirls and ignoring three Muslim feast days.
The Education Ministry declared a ban on religious symbols in state schools a success two weeks ago, but groups canvassing support for private Muslim schools at the UOIF annual convention argued the divisive issue had not gone away.
UOIF Secretary-General Fouad Alaoui said the calm atmosphere now, following the polarised national debate that led to the headscarf ban in March 2004, allowed a new look at what he said was the compromised state of religious freedom in France.
"It is compromised because today, in our country, they expel young girls from school for making the mistake of refusing to show their ears," he told the meeting in this Paris suburb.
"I don't think we can teach a real culture of respect for others if we demand that our minorities amputate themselves of their differences," he said Saturday.
France, whose 5 million Muslims make up 8 percent of the population, banned "conspicuous religious signs" in state schools last year in a move aimed at stemming what it said was the rising influence of radical Islamists among youths.
The UOIF originally encouraged schoolgirls to defy the ban but lined up behind it in last September during a crisis over French hostages in Iraq (news - web sites). In the end, only 48 girls were expelled from school for refusing to uncover their hair.
MIX MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN HOLIDAYS
On March 15, a year after the National Assembly passed the ban, Education Ministry Inspector-General Hanifa Cherifi said the result was "quite positive" and the law had ended 15 years of tension over whether headscarves were allowed.
Alaoui also called for official recognition of main Islamic feast days so Muslims did not feel "that their religion does not have the same status as the majority Catholic religion."
Seven of France's 13 legal holidays are Christian holidays. An official panel studying the headscarf issue suggested adding Islamic holidays, but the National Assembly ignored this and just passed the ban the panel also proposed.
"It would be perfectly normal to end the obligation to work or attend school (on Islamic holy days)," he said.
Alaoui first spoke of two main holidays, referring to the Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha feasts following the annual fasting month of Ramadan and the Haj pilgrimage. Later in the day, he named those and added the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.
Muslims are split on whether the headscarf is a religious duty in Islam and many veiled girls say they respect classmates who do not cover their hair. The UOIF officially demands only the freedom for girls to decide themselves what to wear.
The UOIF convention, which draws tens of thousands of Muslims every year, had several stands with groups offering private schooling to veiled girls expelled from state schools.
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3 Replies to French Muslims Reopen Headscarf, Holiday Debate |
re: French Muslims Reopen Headscarf, Holiday Debate (karma: 1)
en>fr fr>en
By desired_nick  Comments: 146, member since Sat Mar 26, 2005On Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:00 PM
when u care about what's inside the head of an individual* instead of what's on it, only then u'll prove to be more valueable than shit...
*that's brain, B-R-A-I-N for the most people here who come across the concept for the first time in their lives...for further help, just contact me, sure i'll help you, just got bored of living with idiots around...
by the way, Francistan does sound good, more feminene..isn't it already called "la" France? Anyway, we'll talk about this later when you get a brain for yourself...
huge lovezzz..! |
 re: French Muslims Reopen Headscarf, Holiday Debate en>fr fr>en
By batalladepuebla Comments: 1042, member since Tue May 06, 2003On Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:14 PM
desired nick sounds like desired reban as in "ban this turd again". He just can't stay away from ff.com. |
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 Frankrijk en>fr fr>en
By DutchHateFrogs2 Comments: 11147, member since Thu Mar 24, 2005On Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:40 AM
Edited by DutchHateFrogs2 (76526) on 2005-03-28 10:42:27
The Dutch call France Frankrijk which says it all... |
