France’s Sports Minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, has announced that French Muslim athletes will be barred from wearing hijabs at the Olympics. The decision is a gross violation of the religious freedom of Muslim athletes and should be condemned throughout the world.
I have long been critical of the French crackdown on Muslim head coverings and swimwear. Officials insist that such religious clothing is inconsistent with the secular laws of the country.
The denial of basic religious freedom in France is consistent with the French denial of free speech protections. As discussed in my new book, free expression is in tatters in France.
France has been a leader in the rollback on free speech in the West with ever widening laws curtailing free speech. These laws criminalize speech under vague standards referring to “inciting” or “intimidating” others based on race or religion. For example, fashion designer John Galliano has been found guilty in a French court on charges of making anti-Semitic comments against at least three people in a Paris bar. At his sentencing, Judge Anne Marie Sauteraud read out a list of the bad words used by Galliano to Geraldine Bloch and Philippe Virgitti, including using ‘dirty whore” in criticism.
In another case, the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was fined because he had called people from the Roma minority “smelly.” A French teenager was charged for criticizing Islam as a “religion of hate.”
The freedoms of speech and religion are co-existent and co-dependent. Religious speech is the leading target of government crackdowns under blasphemy laws and censorship systems. The freedom of speech sustains all other rights, which is why it is accurately called “the indispensable right.”
It is little surprise that a nation that criminalizes speech would also deny religious expression and observances.
There should be global outrage over the refusal to allow French Muslim women to adhere to their religious values in sporting events. These women want to compete for their nation but their nation will not allow them to do so in a way that is consistent with their faith.
Republican France is a lost cause. Slimy Ganelons rule, its a mockery of everything wholesome.
Mais France, le Patrie, c’est eternel . Vive la fleur de lys!
Sal Sar
How did the hajib wearing French Muslim women make it onto the French Olympic team in the first place?
Do they wear hajibs to compete or is this referring to opening ceremony?
Have any of the women withdrawn from the Olympics?
Islam doesn’t have a niche for freedom of speech or any other freedom.
Not being an expert in this question women are a very low caste within Islam. From a western view it is a depraved religion.
Women are beaten for disobedience so it is false that a hijab has any freedom of choice. If these women remove the hijab and attempt to participate in public the penalty may very well be beatings and confinement to a home space for the remainder of life. Many women seek refuge away from Islam in reality. Moslem women can be lawfully killed by husband’s.
To say Islam is a free choice in speech or religion is a false argument. It feels more like Stockholm syndrome and with hidden fear they say, “I love my hijab”. They may honestly believe it.
France will do as it does.
According to “The World”:
“The law banning the hijab and any other “symbols or clothing that conspicuously demonstrate a pupil’s religious affiliation” has been in place in public schools and government institutions in France since 2004.
The French government has said the hijab ban reflected the country’s long-held policy of secularism — laïcite — that institutes the separation of church and state. A majority of the French public — 77% — say they are “opposed” to demonstrations of religious symbols in schools and support for the ban is high.
But with French athletes now prohibited from wearing any religious items while competing at the summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, the issue is more divisive than ever.
Jeanne Malet, a senior research executive at Verian, a research institute in Paris, said support for the hijab ban has actually increased over the last two decades, but this position varies across generations.”
So, the reason is to protect Muslim women from discrimination, not to discriminate against them.
I’ve also read that there could be issues with the hijab hiding a weapon. It wouldn’t be hard to conceal a gun, knife or container of ricin under a hijab.
They probably committed human rights violations in their countries of origin.
Religious freedom? I see women rolled up in a blanket with eye slits to be incapable of making that decision. If her husband dies, must she still marry his brother? Immigration was not meant for you to drag your tent over the line and start your own little country with all the function and dysfunction of the country you left. You moved to France to be French. If you cannot do that,
Ne laissez pas le chien vous mordre le cul en sortant.
“France’s Sports Minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, has announced that French Muslim athletes will be barred from wearing hijabs at the Olympics.”
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If you play on the team, you wear the uniform of the team. It’s not a free sppech or religious issue, it’s a sports issue. If you don’t want to, you quit the team. There is no right to represent your country, your religion or your team as you care to do.
I wondered earlier what medications Crooks may have been taking. Now it is reported one of his searches was on major depression. SSRIs are used to treat depression and are known to increase the chance of suicide so some have wondered if they may also spark homicide. This substack article has a thoughtful analysis of that issue.
https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/there-is-decades-of-evidence-that
France just isn’t the same without a Hitler to surrender to. A classic example of symbiosis.
Islam is being sheltered by freedom of speech and religion? Twin Towers after all was really just freedom of speech as an action. It was saying die USA but I protect their right to say it!
Islam in the 21st century is acquiring outposts and land in reality. I’ve got a bridge to sell you. There is no reason for Islamic people to migrate into the great Satan and its many subsidiaries. Saudi arabia is a much better choice or Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, pakistan, Africa, Turkey and other acquired land from past centuries.
France guards it’s culture. Bravo.
Have they banned mask collectors, albinophobic paraphernalia, and other religious idols?
I always liked the Delacroix painting that Turley headed this comment with, Liberty Leading the People.
If they were demanding to come dressed like Lady Liberty I would be all for it, yelling Free Speech or free something.
She couldn’t get away with it in Muslim countries though, not even her picture. Some cultures are clearly better and more fun than others.
Young…OT I won’t be surprised if the Deep State Dems announce Biden’s exit from the race tonight, before Trump’s much anticipated speech–a speech which they’re afraid may show a softer side to Trump. I’m sure they don’t want undecideds and some of their base to see and hear President Trump in an uplifting, positive light. It’s just a hunch.
Cindy
Good thought. But if they do they are underestimating Trump again. I imagine he can roll some juicy morsels about Biden’s quitting into his speech. Like how for years they kept telling us the country was in good hands knowing all along he was demented. Next they will be telling us Kamala is beautiful and wise and is a great orator.
Young….LOL….you are correct, sir!
Bragg abnd Young: LOL right back at you. Trump’s boring, wandering excessively long speech was even putting MAGAts to sleep. He just can’t shut up so long as those cameras are rolling. AND, the country HAS BEEN in good hands–booming economy, low unemployment, manufacturing returning–we are the envy of the world, and we will stay that way if we, for a third time, vote him down. Kamala Harris is far more accomplished than venture capitalist, election denying, total abortion banning, “tax cuts for the wealthiest” J.D. Vance.
GG—–Like most obvious things in life, the significance of Trump’s 90 min speech sailed right over your head.
It was intentionally long so that America could see on live TV that he has the endurance, stamina and clear-headedness essential for any President.