Thursday, October 05, 2006
Straw's veil comments
Does multiculturalism encourage integration? Commons leader Jack Straw has suggested women wearing veils can make relations between communities more difficult, and revealed that he asks women visiting his constituency surgery to consider removing them.
In France, of course, they have banned schoolgirls from wearing head-scarves in schools - a determined move to impose a French secularity on the education system.
IMO: Never mind just headscarves, if a Muslim woman wanted to get a job in some firms in the South of France my understanding is that she was not allowed to wear any knickers and indeed obliged automatically to expose herself personally when a director of the firm required it, which was often. Plenty did, it seems, as they needed the work. This appeared in the foreign Press. But up to what point, when foreign mores conflict with local mores in any country do disagreements have to respect the HOST country? One of my relatives spent some time in the Gulf states and he found he was not allowed to bring his idols, which he worshipped, to that country. He returned home with enough money to support his family for awhile but died a broken man, to say it short. His case was certainly genuine but I don't know about the situation of Muslim women, probably born in the UK, who for god knows what reasons decide to wear a veil because their grannie in Pakistan did, and possibly because of the onset of puberty etc. I think the real problem, and the problem that I am sure many UK people have, is that local religious values in the UK are being hijacked by a bunch of militants with grievances. It is like the gay clergy issue. Apart from a few gloomy 'gay' clergy, some of whom I have met, that whole thing was started by some 'gay' militants with chips on their shoulder who had no true interest whatever in religious observances. The Anglican commination (or cursing) service sounds a good remedy for those types, and in the past I have heard both the commination and at least one reasonable rumoured permanent expulsion of a churchgoer. MCC don't seem to do a lot of business, and that is your answer there. Effectively these so called religious 'gays' were and are simply malicious. Each case should be dealt with sympathetically and individually and to do so could help us all to make the UK a country where anyone can reasonably be proud to live in. On the basis of the 'gay clergy' problems results so far, this is not going to happen. I am not anti-anything usual, just looking at facts.
In France, of course, they have banned schoolgirls from wearing head-scarves in schools - a determined move to impose a French secularity on the education system.
IMO: Never mind just headscarves, if a Muslim woman wanted to get a job in some firms in the South of France my understanding is that she was not allowed to wear any knickers and indeed obliged automatically to expose herself personally when a director of the firm required it, which was often. Plenty did, it seems, as they needed the work. This appeared in the foreign Press. But up to what point, when foreign mores conflict with local mores in any country do disagreements have to respect the HOST country? One of my relatives spent some time in the Gulf states and he found he was not allowed to bring his idols, which he worshipped, to that country. He returned home with enough money to support his family for awhile but died a broken man, to say it short. His case was certainly genuine but I don't know about the situation of Muslim women, probably born in the UK, who for god knows what reasons decide to wear a veil because their grannie in Pakistan did, and possibly because of the onset of puberty etc. I think the real problem, and the problem that I am sure many UK people have, is that local religious values in the UK are being hijacked by a bunch of militants with grievances. It is like the gay clergy issue. Apart from a few gloomy 'gay' clergy, some of whom I have met, that whole thing was started by some 'gay' militants with chips on their shoulder who had no true interest whatever in religious observances. The Anglican commination (or cursing) service sounds a good remedy for those types, and in the past I have heard both the commination and at least one reasonable rumoured permanent expulsion of a churchgoer. MCC don't seem to do a lot of business, and that is your answer there. Effectively these so called religious 'gays' were and are simply malicious. Each case should be dealt with sympathetically and individually and to do so could help us all to make the UK a country where anyone can reasonably be proud to live in. On the basis of the 'gay clergy' problems results so far, this is not going to happen. I am not anti-anything usual, just looking at facts.
# posted by uv : 8:44 PM
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