This harsh attack on Quebec’s evolving secularism laws chastises that province for failure to love diversity, but nowhere makes an effort to figure out why, in certain parts of the world (see France), large majorities vote decisively in favor of a secular public realm. Nowhere does the writer note that burqas are banned in countless countries, many of them middle eastern. Nowhere does she wonder why people find the sight of three year old girls in hijabs and thick black robes disturbing. She appears to find comments like this one, from a Canadian day care owner about her staff, convincing:
“I have had [college] students [who work in the day care center] that have been wearing burqas and hijabs. And it did not affect the way they interacted with the children. Actually, it was a very good thing because the children were curious and they were asking a lot of questions and they wanted to know why were they different, why were they wearing that. And, you know, so again, it gives them the opportunity to understand and to learn something that they may not have been exposed to otherwise.”
Indeed, very young female children spending all day with women whose very mouths are covered up (along with everything else except their eyes) are going to find that curious for sure and are going to want to know why they can’t see their teacher. What a wonderful early lesson in diversity for them to know that certain cultures insist women be totally hidden from the world. No doubt they are learning inspiring truths about their gender and how it is valued.
Anyone who thinks there’s the slightest difficulty interacting with someone who won’t let you see their face, or the mere contours of their body, or even their hands, is a party pooper.
Which is to say – if you’re to go all-out against any form of public secularity, you’re going to have to take seriously the grounds of majority opposition to some forms of public religiosity.