France isn't offering freedom, instead prohibiting it

Islam accounts for roughly 10 percent of the population of France. Many of those individuals believe women should wear the burqa -- traditional dress that covers the entire body, leaving only the hands and eyes visible.

The Parliament in France is working to push through a ban on the burqa. If the law passes, women can be fined 150 euro (about $180) for wearing their traditional dress in public. Not only that, but women will then be forced to take a citizenship class. Proponents of the legislation say it is designed to liberate women because many western thinkers consider the burqa an oppressive.

France is trying to make a progressive move in the direction for freedom for its citizens and to promote a more secular country, but instead the ban would move the country backward toward religious intolerance.

Trust me, I’m completely against oppression. But I’m also all for religious and personal freedoms. Has it occurred to anyone that some of these women may prefer to wear the tradition burqa? Many of the women believe that it’s simply modest dress and exactly what God wants of them. Shouldn’t they be given the freedom to choose to follow their religion? To hold true to their culture? That’s what women’s lib is really all about: Choices. Not allowing someone to wear what they want to wear is equally as oppressive as forcing someone to wear something they don’t want to wear.

What’s next? Citizens will be forced to wear sleeveless shirts in the summer? OK, I get that that’s probably going a little too far, but this is the start of a country-wide dress code. I thought we moved beyond that after high school.

There is, however, a clause in the legislation that would evoke a harsher punishment to anyone who forces a woman to wear a burqa. Women of adult age should be given the right to choose what to wear. France should pass only that law, and make sure there are social programs available for women who do not want to wear the burqa but feel forced to do so by a husband, brother or anyone else.

To take away someone’s right to dress as they please while at the same time taking away their right to practice their religious, cultural and moral beliefs is everything but progressive. And it just may lead to citizens feeling to ashamed by their force immodesty to go outside their homes. That’s not quite what you want, France.