anyway, it seems to me that it can’t be good to exclude muslim girls from modern tolerant schools – where will they go?  either they won’t receive an education at all, or else they will learn in a mosque school.  neither of these alternatives would be a good thing for a modern society, that’s for sure.

it isn’t the first generation of immigrants who want to wear the headscarf – often they came to france in the first place, to get away from what that represented.  it is the second generation – their children – who believe that they need a symbol of their own identity, because they are not well received into french society.  of what is the headscarf a symbol?  certainly it can sometimes be a symbol of oppression from within the muslim world, but on the other hand it could be a symbol of liberation – freedom from sexual harassment for example.  there again, it could be a symbol of defiance, whether political, religious, or a statement of personal identity.

is that good or bad?  these questions about symbols go to the heart of a person.  what do we gain by banning this type of manifestation which comes from the heart?  will that heart embrace the society which is in fact against it?  if we block this manifestation, what alternative are we offering? surely it would be better to present our own values as positive and attractive, rather than banning this alternative?   Personally, I like the (theoretical) values of france (this might be an interesting subject in itself for christians to think about.  however, my fear is that the greatest dangers threatening these values are the values of the market, against which there is no law).