.EVERY FEW years the French receive developed about an item of theological clothing that they regard unsuitable in the class. This time around a dispute has burst out at la rentru00e9e, the begin of the brand new academic year, over a government selection to disallow from state institutions the abaya, a whole robe used by some Muslim ladies for modesty. To people in nations with a tradition of liberal multiculturalism, the restriction looks like an inappropriate infraction of the right to religious expression.
To protectors of a stringent variation of French secularism, it is actually an action essential to shield the republic coming from spiritual interference. Why is France thus stressed concerning Muslim dress in its schools?