timesonline.co.uk — So the ideal of a society where no visible public signs of religion would be seen ? no crosses around necks, no sidelocks, turbans or veils ? is a politically dangerous one. It assumes that what comes first in society is the central political ?licensing authority?, which has all the resource it needs to create a workable public morality.
Oct 27, 2006 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountOct 28, 2006
People should be allowed to fully cover up or go fully naked.
mohit007Oct 28, 2006
I would love to live in such a society where national laws are above any religion. Not only as an enforcement but also in people's mind.
tmthemanOct 28, 2006
I am a muslim , and i do believe in islam more than many, i'm 100% against hiding the face .. it's wrong in every aspect .. and It's NOT ISLAM .. in our religion its only a headscarf , the face-hiding thing is just an extra that people think it's like like a bonus or something .. Just like what many already said, hiding the face like that is very anti-social and is a threat to society . BUT on the other hand, A Headscarf is NOT in anyway harmful, and cannot be given up by muslims and fighting that simple right of wearing what we want (as long as it pose no threat whatsoever to society) is wrong .. thats every one's right ..
supercarrotOct 28, 2006
Quite right, as someone has mentioned, the UK went through 30 years of IRA, and one of their insignias was the balaclava. It is meant to hide the face. This is the sort of background that hiding your face enjoys in the UK. Trying to be part of a society then hiding your face from it is going to get you consequences. In Europe, they are NOT going to get it. They will think that you are being superior/odd/dodgy. You could be smirking when you are talking to them (they can't see your face remember). What if you are a criminal and want to avoid being captured by CCTV, which is useless if someone covers their face. I have heard about someone having their driving license picture taken with a veil. Whats the point of that then? How do we know that you are not people smuggling if you refuse to show your face on your passport or when you go through the airport?Hiding your face will get you well deserved miss trust. We that's my opinion anyway. And to be specific, I am not talking about head scarfs. I am talking about hiding your face.
supercarrotOct 28, 2006
Yeah, but why did you say it? Is it because you thought that you were saying what others were only thinking or some ARROGANT, IGNORANT, LEAD BY THE NOSE CRAP like that?You stupid, stupid, stupid, ignoramus.Personally I find people like you the a threat as much as any 'Muslim terrorist' You seriously need to go and attempt to educate yourself!I am not even a Muslim, never will be. I am a Christian, I don't believe what they believe, don't have to, never going swallow it.But, that sort of provocative race hatred inducing statement is as dangerous as Nazism. remember them? They were the ones that no doubt, your ancestors had to fight for their lives and way of lives from. They will have killed them for being different, non Nazi's and non German.
robpadburyOct 28, 2006
I don't think the argument here is a religious one - it's a one of oppression. It's not like the people who live in China have come to terms with the absurdity of religion and the majority abstain from pracitising it. It's that their lives are being oppressed because of fear that those in power will be challenged.What absolutely floors me is that people in power like Bush, Howard, Hussain, Hitler, Hu Jintao, Stalin, the egyptians, are so stupid and arrogant to believe that oppressing people works - when in every single occurance, it doesn't. As for the veils, I think ties into the most pathetic aspects of Islam - the oppression of women. We're talking about a group of people that believe if a woman is raped it is her fault, and she is then killed by a member of family.But insofar as to say that a society that does not allow crosses or veils in public is a dangerous one - has anyone thought about the dangers of forcing every child to say "One nation under God" and having "In God we trust" on the very currency itself? A society led by people sitting on the worlds largest collection of nuclear arms, honestly believing that the world will end in the next 50 years, and that it will not only be good it will be glorious?That's a f**king dangerous society.
prayerhammerOct 28, 2006
Democracy is there to serve people, not to dictate what we believe...which means people have to be free to believe what they want. The veil does hinder communication, and there are some (a tiny minority) who will hide behind the veil to do wrong, but this is not a reason for banning it. I totally disagree with Islamic theology and the idea of the veil, but I believe that people have to be won over from their way of thinking to mine through compassion and reason, not through force of law. Common sense and courtesy should be used to sort out the communication issues raised by covered faces, not the law.