.EVERY FEW years the French receive developed concerning an item of spiritual clothing that they regard unacceptable in the class. This moment a debate has burst out at la rentru00e9e, the beginning of the brand-new academic year, over a government choice to outlaw coming from state colleges the abaya, a whole bathrobe put on through some Muslim gals for discreetness. To people in countries along with a heritage of liberal multiculturalism, the restriction looks like an improper breach of the right to spiritual expression.
To defenders of a meticulous version of French secularism, it is actually an action required to guard the state from theological interference. Why is France thus troubled about Muslim dress in its schools?