Author:
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: February 10, 2004
URL: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040211/ap_on_re_eu/germany_headscarf_ban
The dominant party in the western
German state of Hesse on Tuesday proposed legislation that would ban Muslim
civil servants from wearing headscarves, a measure that goes further than
three other states' proposals to outlaw the veil for public school teachers.
The conservative Christian Democrats'
leader in the state legislature, Franz-Josef Jung, argued that the headscarf
is a political rather than a religious statement and a symbol of repression.
The party, which has a majority in Hesse, hopes to push its so-called "bill
to secure state neutrality" through by the summer.
Germany has roughly 3.5 million
Muslims, most of Turkish origin.
Its 16 states have been divided
over whether to ban Muslim teachers from covering their heads in the classroom
since the nation's highest court ruled in September that veils were allowed
unless existing legislation specifically outlawed them.
Although the court stated that any
new laws must treat all religions equally, many in Germany argue, like
Jung, that the headscarf is a political symbol. Crosses would be excluded
from the proposed Hesse ban, which calls for authorities to take account
of "Christian and humanist Western tradition."
Unlike the government in neighboring
France, the German states are not trying to ban school students from wearing
Islamic head scarves and other religious apparel. Students will still have
the right to dress as they please.
In France on Tuesday, lawmakers
overwhelmingly backed a law to ban Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous
religious displays in schools.
