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Religious Attire is Prohibited in State School and University

Recently, several European countries have passed policies and regulations that restrict the wearing of religious attire in state schools and universities. It has been suggested that the country where these laws are implemented shall deregulate their policies. Although I understand the concern of some people on freedom of religion expression, I disagree that changing the laws is the best response.

Firstly, it is commonly claimed that prohibition to wear religious attire is a form of human rights violation in expressing religious identity. However, most countries where this restriction has been promulgated respect secularity and support human rights. Therefore, neutrality in academic settings seen as a necessary to ensure equality and to protect one’s human rights for not being socially-pressure to achieve a free-controversies learning environment. For instance, in the 1990s, France tolerated students to wear religious attributes such as a cross, a kippah or a headscarf which unfortunately lead to overly ostentatious and provocative actions to the relevant group such as the Muslim girls who did not wear a scarf.

Secondly, although some people believe that the prevailing regulations would lead to discriminative attitudes and harassments, latest studies by PEW Research Centers in 2013 revealed different results. It is reported that two-third of all of the harassment incidents in 39 countries that prohibited women from wearing certain kinds of religious attire involved women who were wearing such attires. Furthermore, in many countries that mandated a particular form of religious dress code, most of the victims were women who failed to abide by the dress code.  Thus, the restrictions are beneficial to protect public safety, minimize discrimination and reduce the rates of harassment towards women.

In conclusion, while there may well be a rejection to this stipulation, I believe that the law on banning the wearing of religious symbols is one of the governments steps to ensure a force-free environment to enable all of the citizens to fully enjoy their human rights and live together in harmony. Nevertheless, I recommend the states to conduct the analysis and review on it use regularly.

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Considering the Restriction of Wearing Religious Symbols in Europe

Several nations, mostly in Europe, have restricted regulation on the usage of religion attributes in public schools and universities. There is ongoing debate concerning this issue whether this law should be applied continuously or should be deregulated. In this case, I disagree with the implementation of this rule, and in this essay, I shall discuss both reasons for and against this policy.

It has been affirmed that the regulation is beneficial to the society. Firstly, this approach is to aim gender equality for students and academicians in an academic environment. France for instance, they decided to stand on secularism to differentiate between religion and social life toward their statehood, let alone in education. Also, this strict rule exists because of security reason. Many facts have shown that by wearing religious symbols, they became a victim of discrimination due to the stigma of the people who might think about their bigotry to a specific religion.

However, some disagreement perspectives appear to encounter this mandate. First of all, Article 18 of the International Declaration of Human Rights guarantee that everyone has the right to freedom of thought and religion. This should include their ways to express it such as get dressed in a veil, burqa, or cross symbol. Therefore, the equivalence in education seems irrelevant with the attires that they put on. Furthermore, instead of having a dispute about public protection because of prejudice from their appearances, the authority should enhance their security system by using advanced technology rather than judging based on their displays. As a result, all students can get equal opportunities to get an education without feeling threatened.

In conclusion, obeying this government regulation is indeed important to obtain equality and public safety, but the law-maker should consider the fundamental of human rights regarding religion practices and education engagement. Finally, I strongly recommend that this rule should be exempt with more emphasis on increasing the value of tolerance and respect for the diversity of spiritual expressions.

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Prohibiting Religious Attire in State Schools and Universities in Several Countries

In some nations, women’s preferences about their attires and appearances become a contentious issue. Recently, many countries have passed regulations and policies that restrict women to wear religious attributes in public schools and universities. I disagree with this perspective and in this essay I shall discuss the reasons why.

First, such prohibition violates human rights. According to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 18, everyone has the right to manifest his belief in practice. It means that each individual in this world has their own rights to decide the way they dress up. Prohibiting them wearing what they wish means denying their freedom in expressing their religious identity. Consequently, it threatens women’s career opportunity and affects their life. For instance, Germany forbids on religious symbols and clothing for teachers and civil servants who wear the headscarf even for those who have been working for many years. The ban insisted some women to give up their jobs or to leave Germany, where they have spent their entire life. Not only did the prohibition take away women’s right to live well, but it also ruined the career of these women.

Second, it is undeniable that violating the human rights will lead to discrimination and harrassment. If this restriction prevails continually, people will tend to discriminate and bully them because they are minority in the community. As a result, we often hear about Muslim women are treated poorly and stereotyped as conservative and even as terrorists just because of covering their head. For example, women who put headscarf on in Turkey are not allowed to pursue postgraduate degree and are prevented from advancing in their workplaces. Similar patterns of discrimination emerge throughout Europe. Frequently, Muslim women who are hanging around in the public places are treated as suspects.

In conclusion, every human being must be free to express their religion practises and should be treated equally regardless their religions, races, nationalities, etc.  Therefore, I recommend those countries to deregulate the restriction of wearing religious symbols in academic settings.

Comment, as we discuss before, your essay is awesome :D

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1. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13038095
2. http://www.globaleducationmagazine.com/islamic-attire-religious-symbol-obstacle-womens-rights/
3. http://www.pewforum.org/2016/04/05/restrictions-on-womens-religious-attire/
4. Law of Human Rights, article 18 http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/