EVER since the French banned conspicuous religious symbols from state schools in 2004, the country has grappled with striking the right balance between religious freedom and enforcement of its strict secular rules.
On June 25th the scales tilted again after a landmark ruling by the top appeals court that a private day-care firm was within its rights when it fired a woman for wearing a Muslim headscarf.
.... The court insisted this week that its ruling should not be interpreted as a green light to apply secular rules to private companies. Yet the judgment nonetheless starts to blur the line. Until now, the idea of a public space in which religious neutrality could be enforced included public hospitals, state schools, town halls and other public institutions, but not privately run organisations. The chances are that other lawsuits will now follow. France's struggle with the headscarf is not over yet.
[A COMMENT] France is no more and no less successful than the UK, Italy, Germany, Sweden or the Netherlands when it comes to welcoming and integrating immigrants with other cultures.
Where the US seems to perform better, that is mostly because it filters its immigration - almost all immigration from outwith the Americas is middle class (people with education, wealth & good earning prospects). Most immigration from within the Americas comes from people that had decent alternative options in Mexico or elsewhere - only the most determined and hard working get into the US.
France (and most European countries) just doesn't have the same quality of pre-filtering
Current volumes of third world immigration (and especially people with political Islamic sympathies) are a direct threat to liberal Western society.
No amount of secularism in French education will compensate for the fact that people affiliated to these oppressive institutions now hold a strong presence and influence over France. [Economist.com] Read more
