To clear up any misunderstandings, take a look at this BBC guide to the different kinds of Muslim veils. I use “veil” and “headscarf” interchangeably, but you will see that “burqa” is quite different.

With pundits and politicians deliberating the possible effects of President Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world on the Lebanese elections and the Iran demonstrations, his June 4^th speech in Cairo has provoked fierce debate in France about a very sensitive subject: laïcité (a strict separation of church and state, dating from a 1905 law) in general, and Muslim dress in particular.

Despite being respected for talking openly to the Muslim world, Obama irked many in France and elsewhere in Europe with this part of his address:

“…it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism…I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal…”

This “some in the West” was taken by many as directed at countries like France, which is known as one of the most secular countries in Europe. Soon after the speech, French newspaper Le Monde responded with an article entitled “Wearing the veil: Obama has a dig at France” stating that Obama’s ideas were “contradicting France”, which in 2004 passed a law banning all “ostentatious religious symbols” from public schools.  This was “interpreted as especially targeting the Islamic veil.”  But other countries have been affected, like Canada, Germany and Belgium, with the latter banning the headscarf in 90% of its schools on the basis that it is “discriminatory.”

The issue has touched Muslim countries as well, such as in Egypt, where female presenters on public television are not allowed to wear the headscarf, and in Turkey where the Constitutional Court repealed an amendment lifting the ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities adopted by the conservative government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Moreover, the article quotes the approval of the 2004 French law by the “highest authority of Sunni Islam”, Mohammed Sayyed Tantaoui, the Imam of az-Azhar in Egypt. He distinguished between the “divine obligation” of Muslim women to wear the veil in Muslim countries and the necessity of obeying government decrees in non-Muslim countries, even if that means a ban of the veil.

A sampling of some of the comments on this article gives us a broad range of perspectives.  One reader states that “Iran imposes the veil. France bans it. Neither of these countries respects the freedom of its Muslim women citizens….the U.S. remains the model for religious freedom, period.” While another says that “the Muslim veil is THE symbol of female submission, and it has no business being in France…France is a secular country, if that doesn’t please you, go to the U.S.A. or Saudi Arabia.” There are several Facebook groups on both sides, as well.

In judging from these two comments, one can see the spectrum of French reaction to religion in the U.S. Before delving into the current controversy surrounding the veil in France, it would be a good idea to look at the different contexts. France was influenced by centuries of religious wars and corruption among the monarchy and Church. Today we see a population mostly weary of religion, if we do not count minorities (Islam is France’s 2^nd religion).

On the other side is the U.S., whose founding fathers believed that government should not interfere in religious matters. Although not officially in the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson’s doctrine of a “wall separation” between church and state is a very important facet of our democracy.

But both countries have been accused of hypocrisy in this regard. In France, most holidays throughout the year have Catholic origins and some public funds have gone into subsidizing the construction of mosques.  Islamist Watch, although an alarmist website, has an article that talks about this mosque issue, claiming that for political and other reasons, about “30% of the funding for mosques in France can be traced to public coffers.”

As to the U.S., many Europeans consider it a religious, puritanical country with theocratic tendencies. American presidents regularly state “God bless America” in their speeches, and U.S. money says “In God We Trust”. Congress has a Chaplain who leads prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance has a line “one nation, under God.”  If this were done in France, it would be scandalous.

But just as history influenced France’s perspective, religion has played an important role in American society, ranging from colonists escaping religious persecution to religious influence on our economic system, as documented in Max Weber’s classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. One need only look at the mega churches, the heated abortion and gay marriage debates and the evolution-versus-creationism argument to understand the big hand faith plays in the U.S.

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