I think Aberdeen has articulated the main issue, at least for me. In a democratic society, individual liberties must always be balanced against the interests of the greater society in maintaining public health and order. In addition, the state has an interest in protecting certain segments of the population, such as minors, and guaranteeing the rights of minority groups from unreasonable actions by the majority. In this situation, the state has, in my opinion, to balance religious liberty against not only public safety and public health concerns, but also against concerns for women's rights, and the rights of minors.
In the United States, for example, courts have ruled that religious freedom has its limits. It was ruled that the Amish could not be forced to bear arms, but they were not exempt from laws mandating the education of their children up to a certain legal age.
Likewise, courts can order Christian scientists to permit medical treatment for minor children.
I don't think there can be any question that certain religiously and/or culturally sanctioned practices in some parts of the world should be prosecuted in our societies. After all, would someone really argue that the giving in marriage of thirteen year old girls, or honor killings, or, let's say, what is euphemistically called female circumcision should be permitted? These are all customs in certain countries that are regarded as outside the pale in the western democracies. Would the application of criminal penalties for these acts be a violation of the religious civil rights of the women involved, or more precisely, of their families? Or would doing so actually be protecting the civil rights of women who are the victims of these acts.
Granted, burkas don't rise to this level, but I believe a convincing legal argument can be made that wearing a burka is not conducive to the health and safety of the wearer or to the safety of the people in the vicinity. These women can't even see properly, for goodness sakes. There are also public safety concerns...we can't allow virtually masked people to roam the streets. Nor should they get driver's licenses without a photo ID where the face is visible.
I also have yet to see any proof for the proposition that " most women that wear the hijab do so by choice and love of their culture"[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="] Is there some representative survey of women all over the world who wear it that someone would care to share with us? And what was the methodology? Were their menfolk standing in the same room when the questions were asked? Or perhaps large numbers of Muslim women have shared with men not of their own ethnicity or religion their innermost feelings about these matters?
What I have seen is very different...young women brutalized by these customs, who protest against them at great risk to their own lives.
Even should some wish to keep the burka or submit to these kinds of practices, it says nothing about the worth of them in an abstract way. People can become acculturated to almost anything if subjected to enough societal pressures. I'm sure we all know from history how some Chinese mothers of the years before the 20th century would hold their daughters down while their feet were bound so tightly that the toes gangrened and fell off, not to mention that the poor women were virtually crippled. And in that situation, no religious imprimatur was at play.[/FONT]
As to the wearing of head scarves, if people wish to do so on their own time, that's fine with me, but trailing scarves have no place in factories or restaurants or even hospitals in my opinion. Wear a hair net.
