.EVERY FEW years the French get developed about a thing of spiritual clothing that they regard inappropriate in the classroom. This moment a dispute has burst out at la rentru00e9e, the beginning of the brand-new year, over an authorities choice to prohibit from state universities the abaya, an uncut robe used by some Muslim females for discreetness. To people in nations along with a custom of liberal multiculturalism, the restriction resembles an improper violation of the right to theological expression.
To defenders of a stringent version of French secularism, it is a step required to secure the state from religious obstruction. Why is actually France therefore stressed about Muslim dress in its own schools?