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Article - Islam And The Veil

Silke Mentchen

Europe faces up to Islam and the veil

After [1] weeks of heated and at times harmful debate on the street and in the national media France's national assembly yesterday began debating a bill [2] to ban religious symbols, including Muslim [3] headscarves [4] , Jewish skullcaps [5] and large Christian crosses, from schools.

In Germany the headscarf debate blew up last September [6] when [7] a Muslim teacher, Fereshta Ludin, won the right to wear a headscarf in class from Germany's highest court [8].

In 1998 [9] Ms Ludin, originally from Afghanistan, was refused [10] a teaching job in the conservative state of Baden-Württemberg. Germany's constitutional court [11] ruled by five votes to three that she could [12] wear a headscarf - although it also said German states had the right to pass laws banning headscarves.

A balance had to be found [13] between religious freedoms [14] - to include Germany's 3.5 million mainly Turkish Muslims [15] - on the one hand, and neutrality in schools on the other, the judges added.

Bavaria's rightwing [16] education minister, Monika Hohlmeier, claimed [17] the head scarf was increasingly used as a political symbol. Wearing [18] Christian crosses or Jewish symbols was acceptable, she added - an assertion that invited accusations of double standards.