Burqa ban passes French lower house overwhelmingly - CNN.com

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/champion-of-uk-burka-ban-declares-...

"A Conservative MP says he will refuse to hold meetings with Muslim women wearing full Islamic dress at his constituency surgery unless they lift their face veil.[...]"Seventy-five per cent of the usual communication between two human beings is done with personal experience. God gave us faces to be expressive. It is not just the words we utter but whether we are smiling, sad, angry or frustrated. You don't get any of that if your face is covered." "

so he wants a ban, but refuses to engage in a sensible discussion? plus if it's about exchanging facial expressions, i wonder if he refuses to meet his blind constituency members because they can't see his face. *grumble moan, grumble*

It has its practical uses.

if sarah palin were a french politician i imagine her response would be to islam "hows that lovey peacey thing workin out for ya"

just realized it even though its off topic, how is it that people support her while not being bothered that she uses bad english like "ya" for "you" as a leader.if she cant grasp the language in a dignified manor why would she make a reasonable choice for governing anything?

if the women have no choice and are forced to wear it by men, then they will probably still be forced to wear a burka and then face fines, which causes more victimisation for the women who'll get in trouble at home and with the police. it would be easier to just talk with the women who wear the burka and muslim women who don't (which i'm guessing politicians who put the ban in place in the EU haven't done), to help lessen how many people wear the burka and support women who feel oppressed. bans will just cause more divisions.

There has to be limits....this is a good limit.

One word....."BRAINWASHED".

Religion is just a "p.c." way to control your women.

Like others have said, I have staunchly contradicting views on this subject.

I don't think the government should be telling people what to wear, that's dumb. But this is a tool of sexual repression hiding behind religion.

Their religion does NOT demand that they wear it, it's a cultural custom. A custom that doesn't even date back that far.

A stand has to be made somewhere. Religious freedom was meant to privatize religion and keep it out of the public sphere, not give it free tiding to ruin societies under a phony hypocritical bubble.

This is the asinine.

God I love the French...they are often so fucking sane it's the only way the rest of us can recognize how insane we are.

I usually hate when i see stories related to topics on "the clothing police."
In this case, there are a few different viewpoints. One being that the Koran does not stipulate women must wear a burqa to maintain their religious beliefs. Two, the identity of the person is important even if law abiding.(can you imagine street hustlers/gangsters/and criminals concealing every bit of skin in order to stay hidden from the public? these people normally would be called 'cat burglers'). Three, it is degrading to women even if they choose to wear it. It is not our fault they are too stupid to see that a male extreemist point of view is what they are following. Four, the government should not make any laws telling people what they can wear, Five, Women should have the right to choose their own clothing, etc....

many conflicting issues on this.

This should be done in every country in the west! the oppression of woman by Islam must be stopped and this is a great first step!

I gotta go against go against this. Banning any article of cloting is a violation of free speech. However they should be forced to remove the burka for when their identities need to be confirmed, such as in ID photos, in court, or if a cop asks them

This is a fascinating story and I keep going back and forth.

On one hand the burqa is a most obnoxious display of religious oppression and speaks to the ugly misogyny embedded in so much of muddle eastern culture.

Yet on the other hand as a staunch social libertarian I have a hard time when the gov. tells anyone how the hell they should dress.

I completely agree, and I hope this passes in the UK, we need a backbone in this country when it comes to allowing religion to over rule our already in place womens rights, the same ones that women died for to get, it's dishonorable to let people come to our country and stamp all over our rights, it should simply be a case of 'dont like our laws then go home' and that is not racist.
However the only downside is a law like this will not make the vile muslim men who make their women wear the veil take them off and let them out, these women will likely become more repressed.

At least the French don`t let people run around looking like they just robbed a bank. C`est la vie, le muslims.