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Can Sarkozy justify banning the veil?

By Alliance Alert

Peter Berkowitz writing in the Wall Street Journal: "Mr. Sarkozy's ban on the full veil represents a draconian measure for a free society. Arguably, it is necessary and proper. But it won't prevail without a fight . . . In America, the separation of church and state is designed to protect the state from religious interference and to protect religion, which always has a public component, from government interference . . . the doctrine of laïcité?which is inscribed in Article 1 of the French Constitution and proclaims France a secular republic?separates church and state differently than in America. For many French, laïcité, roughly translated as national secularism, has acquired a militant meaning, according to which government must confine religion to the private sphere. This sensibility undergirded the ban on headscarves in schools."

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).