Proof at last!
That for some people, just living in France really will send you to hell!For the non-Francophones among my readers, it's a story that reports some schools in France are threatening to expel Muslim students if they refuse to eat non-halal meat provided by the school canteen. Now, I have some sympathy with the headscarf law, provided it is applied uniformly (and that means I am in favour of banning Christmas trees from schools in France, provided that you accept the tree as a religious symbol...). However, that is because these schools are secular institutions, and the headscarves are more a symbolism of the religion. Eating halal meat, however, is clearly forcing students to violate their religion. That surely can't be considered acceptable? Even a militant secularist should accept that people have a right, within limits, to their own religion and act in accordance with those beliefs. This sort of act does nothing to help convince the moderate Muslims that liberal democracy is compatible with Islam.
posted by Ken @ 3:02 PM
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