French minister: ‘No burqas in the street’

You can hate me for in but i love the French they approach politics with a certain honesty, bluntness. Traits that were once considered American .....

Excerpts from the article:

PARIS - France's immigration minister on Sunday proposed a national debate on French "national identity," saying it should not include face-covering Muslim veils.

"For me, no burqas on the street," Eric Besson said on LCI television, referring to the all-encompassing veils such as those worn in Afghanistan. But he didn't directly suggest a ban, saying it was up to lawmakers to decide whether that would be the most effective measure.

"The burqa runs counter to national values," he said, saying such veils are an affront to women's rights and the French commitment to equality.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the burqa imprisons women and is not welcome in France, and a parliamentary commission is holding six months of hearings that could lay the groundwork for a law banning Muslim women from wearing head-to-toe and face-covering veils in public.

Besson suggested a 2 1/2-month-long "great debate on national identity" on the theme "What does it mean to be French?" The idea is "to reaffirm values of national identity and pride in being French," he said.

"In France, the nation and the republic remain the strongest ramparts against ... fundamentalist tendencies," Besson said. "France is diversity, and France is unity."

Debate on French identity
Besson said foreign residents in France should speak better French and that French schoolchildren should have more opportunities to sing the national anthem, La Marseillaise.

The idea of a national debate on French identity is likely to rankle immigrants' and minority rights groups who say Sarkozy's government is too intolerant of outsiders. Himself the son of a Hungarian immigrant, Sarkozy has sought to crack down on illegal immigration, focusing on skilled immigrants instead.

The head of France's largest Muslim body, Mohammed Moussaoui, told the parliamentary panel earlier this month that the full-body veil — worn by a small minority of Muslims in France — is an "entry way" to radical Islam, but that the national debate over whether to ban it is stigmatizing the entire Muslim community.

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I feel that it is important to note that thou the article states that Muslims are the second largest religious population in France this fact is true, but misleading according to the Eurobarometer Poll *

34% of French citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".
27% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
33% answered that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".
so 60% of France does not believe in God
("Eurobarometer on Social Values, Science and technology 2005 - page 11")

But interest enough........ a January 2007* poll found that
51% of the French population describe themselves as Catholics (and only half of those said they believed in God),
31% as atheists,
4% as Muslims,
3% as Protestants
and 1% as Jews

*{(Romanian) Franţa nu mai e o ţară catolică (France is no longer a Catholic country), Cotidianul, 2007-01-1}

So the "second largest religion" pretty misleading huh? only 4% leaving 96% who have absolutly no religious reason to wear a burqa...

You could hide a bomb under a burqa, and it would be impossible to see who you are. I'm just saying, no one mentioned it, had to be said.....

Even with that said i cant see making a religious piece of clothing illegall.... period... no matter how oppressive it was.Of course it also goes without saying that no one should be forced to where that.......anywhere!

-ksutherland27

ksutherland27@aol.com