Follow-up on the French Religious Clothing Ban

The warning I gave in my post yesterday is echoed on CNN today. Is there really any doubt that banning the wearing of headscarves is only going to further radicalize the Muslim community in France? Not to French Muslim leaders:

"The majority of Muslims want to practice their religion in peace and in total respect of the laws," said Lhaj-Thami Breze, president of the Union of Islamic Organizations of France, the country's biggest fundamentalist grouping.

But "when you persecute, when you make fun of, when you refuse, when you don't respect beliefs, what is the consequence?" he said in a telephone interview. "The consequence is radicalization."

And a sociologist quoted in the story agrees:

Sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar said the proposed law would be "the beginning of the problem."

Just 20 percent of France's Muslims are "religiously minded," he said in an interview with Associated Press Television News. "But even those who do not wear the head scarf will feel offended because it is a denial of personal rights."

"Instead of fighting against Islamic radicalism, it might encourage it because of this feeling of stigmatization," said Khosrokhavar, author of "The Head Scarf and the Republic."

And beyond the practical matter of why this law will feed what it is ostensibly intended to diminish, what on earth makes them think that government has such authority? In the US, we would not grant such authority to government. No matter how large a majority voted for it in Congress, a bill prohibiting Christians from wearing crosses around their neck or "WWJD" bracelets (or whatever symbol of their faith they choose) would be struck down by the courts immediately, and rightly so.