Comment on Finland | Minister: "Burkas and niqabs are not suitable for school"
Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com 2 days agoI think that’s a misinterpretation of the concepts of Freedom of Religion and Laicity (freedom from religion).
In the French understanding, laicity means that no representative of the State is allowed to show their religion, or treat people differently according to their religion / political orientation. Traditionally it even extended further : for example teachers would refrain from exposing their religion / political views because they recognized the influence they held on their community, and that being outspoken is unfair to those who do not share those views.
That being said, the Burqa laws are an attempt to place that burden on the users of the services of the State. It’s pretty toxic because they should be served equally, which obviously they can’t be when you write laws that target one specific group over others.
The attempt to place the blame on parents is equally toxic. You have the freedom to raise your kids the way you see fit : having a conscience is not illegal. If that leads them to do illegal stuff, well that’s when the law comes in, but not before.
It’s all fun and games until the next fascist administration uses the same Burqa laws to prohibit whatever you hold dear.
Dasus@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yeah, next they’ll be saying something like “kids shouldn’t bring life-like replica guns to school” or something equally authoritarian.
The horror.
Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com 2 days ago
That’s a great joke. I’m sure there’s no reasonable scenario you could have picked instead of that one.
It’s not like some places in the world are prohibiting discourse about homosexuality or the criticism of religion, under the same guise of “protecting children from indoctrination”.
Dasus@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I am Finnish. Neither of those are in any way forbidden or avoided?
You’re pretending — in bad faith — that this is some authoritarian bullshit. It isn’t. It’s perfectly reasonable not to allow kids to cover their faces. I wasn’t allowed to in school in the 90’s either.
Again, hijabs are completely fine.
Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com 2 days ago
No i’m trying to see the bigger picture here. Our great grandparents were deeply religious too and because schools are accomodating to all ways of life (the burden of laicity is not on the user) they were allowed to integrate with each other and that’s how you get from >90% of religious practice in a country to <50%.
Those burqa laws have no discernable point, there is no metric that you could point to and say “see, that’s how it’s making society better”. They only have negative externalities. Sure you can punish that teenage girl and make her life more complicated. Hell, you might even get her to quit public school, that would be fucking sweet right ? What does society ever gain from that ?
It’s a solution in search of a problem, and as these things often are, it will be misused by someone whose agenda you despise.