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Basic freedoms

There is a news article at the moment about Aishah Azmi, a teaching assistant who insists on wearing a veil in school.

I am really torn on this issue. There are clearly practical and safety issues with letting people wear veils in school, and I don't think it is that good an idea. On the other hand, I am all for freedoms and clearly this veil is an important part of culture and it is doing no real harm. Then again, children are expected to adhere to a dress code, so why not the teachers?

What I find extremely infuriating is that Muslims demand civil liberties, but only when it works in their favour. Whilst we do have certain freedoms, for example to publish material that may offend others, Muslims still insist that we should not have that freedom. This is the essence of modern discourse, after all, if an idea cannot withstand criticism, then maybe it isn't such a good idea in the first place. Only by challenging ideas have we been able to ascend from the intellectual dark ages, and it is something so fundamental to Western culture.

Muslims also deny their women a lot of freedoms, which essentially makes them hypocrites, when they demand (say) the freedom to practise their religion at all. I would say that freedom should work both ways, for example we should be allowed to offend Mohammed, but that in return people should be allowed to dress more liberally.

I also think that religion should be kept out of certain institutions. A veil is clearly a religious statement. It makes a statement "I am better than you". I find this rather distasteful. The only way we are going to survive as a society is if we keep all religion out of schools, institutions, and government for our own sanity. (Don't get me started on faith schools - brainwashing children is outrageous).

If Muslims cannot accept our society, then the only solution for them is to find alternative employment, maybe in another country. I do not want this, since I find a mix of cultures to be tantalising, but only if we can treat each other as equals, and not to be despised as an infidel.

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