this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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But I am not a right winger. I believe in a secular society, public administration should be religiously neutral and that means no one gets special privileges. Also I have rarely ever seen muslim Africans wear headscarves aside from Somalis. Usually when I think of headscarves, I think of Turks, Chechens or people from the Arabian Peninsula.
Religious seculation also means no oppression based on religion. It's a double edged sword. I'm not saying you are right wing but I am pointing out that right wing demagogues go after Islam. Especially in countries with strong hate speech laws.
Certain restrictions in public sector workplaces arent oppression though. Especially the rules apply to everyone. Its just like certain dress codes are in place such as no street shoes, no revealing clothing and no visible tattoos. If people want to wear religious symbols outside of a government job, they are within their own right and I will protect that right. I also support people being allowed to wear religious symbols in private sector jobs as long as they abide by safety codes (there are forms of hijab and sikh head coverings that abide by safety standards for heightened danger workplaces).
But are any of those things really what it really is about?
The ban is in public sector workplaces such as administration. It is not a ban religious symbols in the private sector. Also the EU court stated that making exemptions to accomodate the religious will complicate matters as it could become a slippery slope in terms of the guidelines expected of a secular and unbiased state.
I quote from the official statement of the ruling court:
"(1) Article 2(2)(a) of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation
must be interpreted to mean that a provision of a public body’s terms of employment which prohibits employees from wearing any visible sign of political, philosophical or religious belief in the workplace, with the aim of putting in place an entirely neutral administrative environment, does not constitute, with regard to employees who intend to exercise their freedom of religion and conscience through the visible wearing of a sign or an item of clothing with religious connotations, direct discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, for the purposes of that directive, provided that that provision is applied in a general and undifferentiated way.
(2) Article 2(2)(b) of Directive 2000/78
must be interpreted to mean that a difference of treatment indirectly based on religion or belief arising from a provision of a public body’s terms of employment which prohibits employees from wearing any visible sign of political, philosophical or religious belief in the workplace may be justified by that body’s desire to put in place an entirely neutral administrative environment, provided, first, that that desire responds to a genuine need on the part of that body, which it is for that body to demonstrate; second, that that difference of treatment is appropriate for the purpose of ensuring that that desire is properly realised; and, third, that that prohibition is limited to what is strictly necessary."
Source: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=273313&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=3078169
Right. But why was the ban enacted?
It is in the quote text. It says that public sector administration has to be religiously and politically neutral and any overt symbols or clothing of said convictions cannot be allowed by administrative staff.
I even link the entire statement of the court and you didn't even bother to read it.