Originally Posted by Abdiesel

Im a muslim (male), and I will tell you that women wearing the burka is a real touchy subject. In our religion, woman are to dress modestly, at least covering the hair, do not have to cover the whole body head to toe with a burka.

the problem lies where people start to misinterpret the Quran(religion in general) and adding their own cultural/personal beliefs into it. A woman DOES NOT have to wear a burka as long as she is dressed modest, but yet in some countries they are forced to.

for example, in Saudi Arabia they will not allow women to drive (really?), and people will take it as a reflection of the whole religion. In no where does it say woman cannot drive, matter of fact women have the same rights as men, but people try to add their own cultural/personal beliefs into it and justify it by saying its religion.

Anyways i can see where the french are coming from (for security?), but they are wrong for trying to impose this, if they allow this to happen than does that not now open the door them to tell you how to live your lifes....

Originally Posted by •LX•

I don't know if security is the main concern. I think it's basically about not wanting to have what you have described as a problematic cultural development creep into their own culture. And it's exactly in opposition to those who would tell women how to live their lives.

Personally - I would like to see Muslims take actions against the ways their religion gets abused by fundamentalists. But then I don't see that happening with Christians either. So I really don't have a problem with a national government taking a stance that is not entirely unreasonable. At the same time, a country like France really needs to work much harder to be far more inclusive in all respects. The Muslim population there, like in much of Europe, is quite separate from the rest of the population, and mostly with built-in disadvantages resulting.

Originally Posted by MoneyCarlos

You are very very wrong LX, France is the most tolerant country in Europe towards muslims, africans etc. and french people are known throughout history to be extremely inclusive unlike for example anglo-saxons (britain, america, canada initially) creating a french nationalistic feeling. As witnessed by french colonization and constant influx of immigrants allowed into France from french-speaking francophonie countries.
Just look at their national teams (football, basketball..) where a true frenchman is rarity, what other european countries would allow that?

As for veil question, it is a duty of every country to separate the religion and state in order to become a true state of "all of its people".