.EVERY FEW years the French acquire worked up about a thing of religious garments that they regard as improper in the classroom. This time a dispute has actually burst out at la rentru00e9e, the begin of the new year, over an authorities choice to outlaw from condition colleges the abaya, a full-length bathrobe worn through some Muslim ladies for virtue. To people in countries with a practice of liberal multiculturalism, the restriction looks like an unwanted violation of the right to spiritual expression.
To defenders of a strict version of French secularism, it is a step important to secure the commonwealth from theological disturbance. Why is actually France therefore concerned concerning Muslim dress in its colleges?