France has about 3.5 million Muslims; they are representing about six percent of the population. French lawmakers believe that the burqa is a growing phenomenon. French lawmakers want to make a law of a partial ban on any veils that cover the face. The burqa is a full body covering that is worn by some Muslim women. The law will apply to anyone who attempts to receive public services, or work for public services. The ban is not only about Muslims. France made a law in 2004 that banned all exterior religious signs, from public schools. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the full veil was not welcome in France and has nothing to do about religion. Sarkozy also said that it issues the freedom of a woman’s freedom and dignity. More than half of the French population is against the Burqa. Some Muslims say that they are only following their religious beliefs and France should respect that. But there is nothing in the Quran written down, that Muslims women have to cover their faces. A survey conduct in France found that 77 percent of girls wearing the Burqa said that they did it because of threats from Islamist groups. This means that the Muslims women are forced by others to wear a Burqa.
From the hermeneutic perspective people should be free. People should be free to live their own life. Since many women are forced to wear a burqa this goes against morality. So I conclude that the Islamist groups, which are forcing the woman, are acting morally wrong.
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Besides this argument there is something else that is morally debatable. The Burqa is seen as a instrument that prevent somebody of being recognized. When people see a Burqa they question themselves: who is underneath it, what are his/her intentions etc. People seem to fear the Burqa and to judge if this is morally right I assess this point from a functional perspective.
Imagine a world in which everyone used a Burqa. At first sight there seems nothing wrong. However if someone with a Burqa is stealing something it is hard to indentify the perpetrator. When people think they can get away with a crime they will commit a crime sooner than when they now they can’t get away with it. In this society a lot of crimes remain unsolved, damaging the system geared at e.g. stability. I therefore conclude that wearing a Burqa is morally wrong.
U1236227
ANR: 792563
Martijn Stouthart
This can be seen as a morally hard case (with regard to the French government), instead of stating that Islamist groups are acting morally wrong. On the hand, the government should take into account freedom of people. Therefore, women should be allowed to wear whatever they like also if that’s a burqa. On the other hand, people are not recognisable when wearing a burqa, which could lead to difficulties when identifying people. If a crime is committed and all people wear burqas, crimes cannot be solved anymore, which may result in more crime and less solved offences. What’s more important, having freedom or prevent a possible increase of crimes?
I think wearing Burqa and morality is not related. Can we judge wearing Bruqa is moral or immoral?
Although there is nothing about Bruqa in Quran, Bruqa is convention in their culture. The one who decide to wear Bruqa is the one whose religion is muslim, not us. Students above said wearing Bruqa is morally wrong because it makes people scared and for safety reasons. However, I think this is stereotype made by western culture. And wearing Bruqa is conventional matter, for women wearing Bruqa it cannot be the matter that they can argue. It is different culture. According to the textbook, all the arguements in the book is valid on western culture. Muslim has different cultural background, so it should be judged by different criteria. For them, in hermeneutic perspective, wearing Bruqa can be morally right. I think this is very western-centered idea that Bruqa is morally wrong, in hermeneutic/functional perspective.
And I am going to put one example to support above. I am Asian, and if I and people of my country feel scared about people wearing traditional Catholic custome, and some people disguise Catholic people and did some crimes, is it okey to ban Catholic custome in my country with functional perspective? if you think in opposite way thing looks different.
My opinion about prohibiting people for wearing a burqa is morally wrong.
On the first place you are crossing peoples freedom of choice and freewill. I want to stress that, a society is only a free society if all are free.
I see that some students argues: “ doing crimes with burqas.” Humans are moral beings, so people don’t think about criminal activities naturally. And if someone want to cover his face, he can use a helmet, so should we prohibit wearing a helmet too?
The argument about that women are forced to wear a burqa is also invalid I think. There is written that 77% is forced to wear one. How about the research methodology, isn’t this exaggerated what happens a lot today, when Muslims are the topic?
The main question we should ask is: western societies always have tolerated the burqas, why not anymore?
Evren Ulu
ANR: 823337
Besides some of these practical comments there is also another interesting question from the ban of the burqa for people working at public places. On the one hand you could argue for a strict distinction between church and state, one the other hand this is contrasting with core moral beliefs such as religious freedom.
s888110
In my opinion this is an example of a moral hard case. There are good moral reasons in favor and there are good moral reasons against.
In a Western world women should have the ability the express and dress themselves in the way they want to. The underlying reason in this particular case is: Why does a woman wants to wear a Burqa? In my opinion this is the most important question.
In the Koran it is not obligatory to wear a burqua, so the religious factor should not be decisive.
Is it because of the fact that men want their wives to wear a burqua? If that is the case, I am against wearing a burqua, because women have the right on freedom and the woman does not need to be oppressed by their man.
For me it wouldn't be a prblem is women in a public function ( as in a city hall) wear a burqa, as long as they want it themselves, not because of their man wants it.
S343386
s477986
The discussions on the Muslim women body veils have been ongoing in the Western society. There are many arguments for and against coming from both sides. Usually every point that is brought up in the discussions about burqas bring strong pro and contra arguments. To give an example, by banning the burqa it is said to enhance equality between women, while on the other hand, Muslim women may feel more comfortable by wearing burqa as it covers their body parts that they are unwilling to uncover in the public spaces.
The underlying reasons for having these discussions lie much deeper in the European society and values that we hold. There are institutional, cultural as well symbolic and historical factors that raises these discussions about the Muslim veils, much too broad for the scope of this comment.
Nevertheless, what I would like to propose is to drop the discussion about the veils (which is partly used as a symbol for the regression in the eyes of the progressed Europeans, which has long divided religion and state) and look for the solutions for the religious tolerance in Europe.
I agree that it is a moral hard case: wearing a burqa out of religion perspective is good but to have to wear a burqa out of safety reasons ?
Freedom of religion is of course very important but what about the feeling of safety ?
I can imagine that people don’t feel safe when there are people who have covered their whole body so that they can’t be recognized. I must admit that these thoughts of insecureness in the Western society is heated up because of the economic crisis and extremist, also the 9/11 tragedy didn’t do much good for people wearing the burqa.
In respect to safety the burqa case is weak. Of course freedom of religion is very important but isn’t there another way to life by your religion ?
Europe is tolerance enough. The problem is the people who are misusing their own religion.
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