At the table - Separation of Church and State

Since Nadege and Aurore weren't here tonight, it was just the three of us at dinner tonight. Let the political discussions begin. The French love to discuss politics, culture, religion - just about any hot intellectual issue you could think of - over dinner. There's always background noise from the TV or radio here, even while we eat, and as I discovered, it's a way for Mme. to come up with topics to ask us about as they flash headlines across the screen. Tonight the topic of Muslims wearing veils in school came up. It's been a hot topic in the news lately because, as I've discovered, the French see the separation of Church and State as very black and white - and they take it very seriously. The problem was that some public schools have allowed Muslim girls to wear their veils to school while others have not. So the public called for a national ruling to determine once and for all, because all the public schools have to be the same. The ruling came down that they could not wear their veils because that would bring religion into the schools. I was surprised to hear Mme say that she though this was the appropriate ruling. Her reasoning was that religion is private and just because you follow one religion doesn't mean you have to demonstrate that to the world. Furthermore, if some children were to demonstrate their religion at school, it could cause conflicts so it was better not to be able to tell. Since there are private Catholic and Jewish schools, she didn't see why they couldn't open private Muslim schools for those who are extremely religious and wanted their children to go to a school where veils could be worn.

I can see her point, but I can't imagine how difficult it must be for the girls who are now told that they are not allowed to practice their religion at school. Do their parents keep them home because they can't go out properly dressed? Though public school may not be the appropriate place for French children to discuss their religion, they are, in effect, telling the students that they are not allowed to follow their religion for eight hours a day. If these girls truly believe they must wear their veils, what do they think will happen to them if their government tells them they cannot be educated with them? How do they reconcile the conflict in their minds between their God and their government?

Unfortunately, my French isn't good enough to debate these points with Mme, but it is nice to know that once it improves, I'm sure she'll have no problem debating with me - after all, it's apparently the national sport at dinnertime.