Belgium just became the second European nation to ban the burqa and the niqab, the garments worn by some conservative Muslim women that entirely cover the body and face, with only a mesh screen or a slit for the eyes. With France’s ban earlier this year and now Belgium’s, the burqa is a hot issue in Europe. Depending on who you listen to, the burqa is either — as President Obama said in Cairo two years ago — an exercise of religious freedom or — as French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said — “a sign of debasement.”
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Meanwhile, there is little discussion about the burqa in the United States, despite its increasing appearance in many neighborhoods. I recently saw a couple of women wearing burqas in our local mall, walking dutifully behind their husbands. Another burqa-shrouded woman shopped in our local grocery last week.
When I see a woman in a burqa, my feelings are of revulsion. Not of the women themselves, of course, but of the culture and the men who require this of them. Not only do I want to set them free, I want to protect my own daughter from the sight of what appears to me as forced subservience.
Tags: Burqa, islam, Kent Greenfield, religious freedom, religious intolerance
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