Nussbaum’s piece for the NYTimes on why the burqa ban does not suit the liberal democracies of Europe. Great read – she rips apart legal and moralistic arguments for such a ban, piece by piece. I’ve pasted disjunctive extracts here. The criticism is based primarily on inviolable philosophical underpinnings, and how the said reasons fail to fit its bill. Its a good read on why the ban cannot satisfy predominant justifications for curtailing the right to equal respect and conscience. Very measured, none of that flaming-liberal-stuff.
[...]protecting equal rights of conscience requires “free exercise” for all on a basis of equality. What does that really mean, and what limits might reasonably be placed upon religious activities in a pluralistic society? The philosophical architects of our legal tradition could easily see that when peace and safety are at stake, or the equal rights of others, some reasonable limits might be imposed on what people do in the name of religion. But they grasped after a deeper and more principled rationale for these limits and protections.
[...]If people find that their conscience will not permit them to obey a certain law (regarding military service, say, or work days), they had better follow their conscience, says Locke, but they will have to pay the legal penalty
[...]This tradition reasons that laws in a democracy are always made by majorities and will naturally embody majority ideas of convenience. Even if such laws are not persecutory in intent, they may turn out to be very unfair to minorities. In cases in which such laws burden liberty of conscience ─ for example by requiring people to testify in court on their holy day, or to perform military service that their religion forbids, or to abstain from the use of a drug required in their sacred ceremony ─ this tradition held that a special exemption, called an “accommodation,” should be given to the minority believer.
[...]Five arguments are commonly made in favor of proposed bans. Let’s see whether they treat all citizens with equal respect.
In this context, Karim Bennoune’s Secularism and Human Rights: A Contextual Analysis of Headscarves,. Religious Expression, and Women’s Equality. Under International Law in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law is also worth a read (Part V of the article, for those who might want to skip a lengthy piece).
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