Muslim face veils: religious right, or security risk?
Angela Shanahan | Saturday, 6 February 2010
In an opening article on this issue an Australian journalist says veils are a security risk in the West and should be banned in public.
The reports that a French parliamentary committee wants to ban the full face veil in certain circumstances has caused outrage among not only Muslims, but some respected Christian commentators as well. As an opinion writer who has closely followed issues of human rights and freedom of religion for The Australian newspaper, I too received a flurry of emails when the news broke.
One friend and colleague — the editor of Mercatornet, actually – seeking my opinion expressed his own: “To me, it seems crazy, a violation of freedoms, a victory for a certain brand of feminism, etc. But obviously, many respectable people take a different approach.â€
Well, I am one of the “respectable†people to whom he refers (I hope). I do not agree with the wearing of a full face and body veil in the West. In these insecure times there are good reasons for banning it in government offices. (more…)








