Should The Burqa Be Banned?

Religion as defined by Merriam-Webster is, “the belief in a god or in a group of gods; an organized

Religion is the set of beliefs, feelings, principles and practices that define the relations between human being and sacred or

Within the Middle East, the largest population of the men and women are Muslim. The Muslim religion suggests that the women wear a veil or hijab, which is a headscarf that only exposes a woman’s eyes, accompanied by a burqa which is a full body cloak. The sole purpose of the clothing is to cover a woman’s feminine features from men’s eyes. The Qur’an, an Islamic scripture supports, and slightly obligates the uniform by saying that women are to be conservative, “Let them wear their head covering over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments.” (Qur’an). Muslim women, instead of feeling oppressed, view this as a positive aspect in their lives, influenced by their devotion to Allah. Their acceptance could be influenced by their

Religion is the belief in an ever-living God, that is, in a Divine Mind and Will ruling the Universe and holding moral relations with mankind. (James Martineau)

As Crapo (2013, p.53) notes, cultural relativism is, "the idea that the significance of an act is best understood by the standards of the actor's own culture." In this statement, the student is drawing upon opinion, rather than research on the cultural significance of wearing the veil.

Politicians in Quebec have passed a controversial religious neutrality bill which would require people receiving and giving services to expose their faces and could mean that the Muslim niqab or burqa could be banned in public.

Everyone has rights and freedoms, and we all want those to be respected. For Muslim women, the burqa is a way to feel safe and protected. They feel less likely to be sexually assaulted when they are out in public. Many of these women believe only their husbands should see their body, and they have the right to believe this. A woman should be allowed to choose what she wears and how much of her body is revealed to others. Many women go out into public with very little clothing on, so Muslim women should be allowed to go out covered with a burqa. Muslim women are bringing harm to no one by wearing a burqa. Everyone is comfortable in different things, and we would not want anyone telling us we cannot wear a hoodie if we are cold or a hat. This is the same thing as telling Muslim women that they cannot wear a burqa.

Multiculturalism has always been perceived as one of the integral components of Canadian Culture . Under the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, Canadian citizens are free to exercise their religious and cultural practices . However, niqab ban takes effect in some public aspects of Canada . Supporters of the ban believes that wearing niqab is not a part of the Canadian Culture and should be banned in order to free Muslim Women from oppression . Niqab ban, however, infringes on the religious and cultural freedom instilled in the Canadian Multiculturalism Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom and is unlawful . A careful examination on Canadian culture and laws, the origins and arguments of the ban, and its implications is needed in order to further understand the issue.

Religion is a part of life for millions of people around the world and can often define a person and their way of living. While some countries solely recognise a religion through cohesion of religion and state, other countries are secular, having a definite separation between church and state affairs. It is often the lack of separation between these two ideologies, which causes conflict amongst people, groups and sometimes countries, clearly showing defects in the relationships of various factions of society. April 2011 saw a controversial law come into effect, known as the ‘Burqa Ban’, which prohibits the wearing of the full-face burqa in public places. In the present day and specific to Islam in France, religion and the state are in conflict with one another on the issue of wearing religious symbols in public. In a secular country where a minority religion struggles to define itself, it seems

It may be argued that western women adopt to culturally appropriate clothing if they were to live or visit a country where that is the practiced culture such as Afghanistan or Iran, then why is it not appropriate in Australia for people to conform to our culture which is to be open and it is respectful for one’s face to be visible. Along with the fact that it is not a core Australian value for the face to be visible at all times, it is also obvious that respect is a two way street. We should show our respect by protecting their right to make decisions and by encouraging assimilation. Whilst the idea of having women’s' identity obscured is offensive to most Australians

Although I am not familiar with the customs of Islam, I do believe that wearing such pieces like the burqa is ultimately by choice. Like many religions, there is some sort of scripture that was written as a guideline for the purpose of living life in a certain way. The Koran does require that both men and women should conduct themselves in a modest manner, including attire, however, the Koran does not explicitly state that women must be dressed in garments such as the burka. Therefore, it is women themselves who have either chosen to wear the garment or was forced too due to other contributing factors. To go into further detail, I do believe that some women are pressured to abide by such code of conduct because of strict, religious values of some Islamic husbands who could be classified as possessive or oppressive. With this in mind, other reasons for Islamic women to wear conservative garments maybe due entirely to their religious obligations, while on the other hand, there are women who would just wear a burqa because of cultural reasons.

Within the Middle East, the largest population of the men and women are Muslim. The Muslim religion suggests that women wear a veil or hijab, which is a head scarf that only exposes a woman’s eyes, accompanied by a burqa which is a full body cloak. The sole purpose of the clothing is to cover a woman’s feminine features from men’s eyes. The Qur’an, an Islamic scripture, supports and slightly obligates the uniform by saying that women are to be conservative, “let them wear their head covering over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments.” (Qur’an). It could be inferred that women wear the burqa and veil willingly because of their geographical location. However, when Muslim women are withdrawn from the Middle East, and are placed

The wearing of a hijab or also known as a veil has lately become a problematic issue in numerous locations around the world, in particularly the Western part of the world. Hijab or veil is a headscarf that is regularly worn by Muslim women. Muslim women will wear a veil as a sign of favor to their faith. On the opposite side, others will wear it because they have no other choice from the pressure of their family members and religion. Individuals will even argue that the wearing of a hijab is a spiritual liberation. Other individuals will have a difference in opinion by saying that by wearing a hijab is an unjust to women, they believe that the wearing of a hijab is part of a Muslim system that brings women under command and control.

What is a religion? A religion is defined by Richard Schaefer as a unified system of beliefs and practices that relate to what is believed to be sacred (Schaefer, Richard T, 2009, pg 323). There are many world religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hindu, and so forth, and while all of these different religions are

Currently, the French want to ban the wearing of religious symbols in public schools so that there is no social tension, and to keep the main religion in France (Roman Catholicism) ‘pure’ (Gofen 63). But even though the French say they want to keep their culture pure, in reality since the world wars, religions such as Islam and Judaism have in fact become a part of their culture. Once again, the French let in other cultures knowingly, and once the cultural diversity begins, all the religions are apart of a country’s culture. An example of a religious symbol that the French are considering to ban is the Burka. A Burka is an outfit worn by Muslim females that cover them head to toe. Some, who want to ban the burka say that it is disrespectful to women and can be degrading. But, 64 million people in France are Muslim. By wearing a Burka they are just following their religion and are also following tradition (French). One other big controversy regarding religious symbols is the banning of