Burqa ban in France...

They are trying to ban face covering Burqa in France.

France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on wearing burqa-style Islamic veils on Tuesday July 13th. The approval according to the parliament is part of a determined effort to define and protect French values that has disconcerted many in the country's large Muslim community.

The issue has been debated across Europe, and Spain and Belgium have similar bans in the works. In France, which has Europe's largest Muslim population, about 5 million of the country's 64 million people are believed to be Muslim. While ordinary headscarves are common in France, only about 1,900 women are believed to wear face-covering veils.

The legislation would forbid face-covering Muslim veils in all public places in France and calls for euro150 ($185) fines or citizenship classes, or both.


The bill also is aimed at husbands and fathers – anyone convicted of forcing someone else to wear the garb risks a year of prison and a euro30,000 ($38,000) fine, with both penalties doubled if the victim is a minor.
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What do I think of this ban? I'm kinda scared of writing it but I will...hope I don't get bashed too much o..:-)
OK here it is. I find this ban a little oppressive really. I mean what happened to freedom of expression/living the way you wanna, as long as you are not hurting anyone? It's part of the Muslim culture and I think we should all just learn to tolerate other people's cultural values/religious differences.

The argument is that the face-wearing Burqa veil is a symbol of abuse of women by Muslim men, BUT there are women who actually WANT to wear it! What happens to that percentage? I would 100% support this ban if women were actually forced by their men to wear it, because that makes it demeaning, but like I said there are women who have no qualms wearing it, in fact, will not step out of their homes without it! Except you say if they want to wear the Burqa then they should move to a country where it's the norm? Yeah, that makes sense. See how confused I am? :-)

See, if they are banning this veil for security reasons then that makes sense, but if it's for women liberation/equality, then...? I don't know sha...what's your thoughts on this?
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