The Philosophers' Imprint, a freely available online refereed journal in philosophy. Remember kids, metaphysics is good for you!

John Kerry Strikes Back.

The French ban on "conspicuous religious symbols" in public schools went into effect recently as the new school term began. Articles at Salon and BBC News. By way of background, I am not myself religious, and I'm fairly critical of organized religion in general. However, I do have problems with this policy.

Now, one of the main factors behind this law was that Islamic symbols (headscarves being the primary example) might cause trouble given the geopolitical situation these days. And some idiots might think, "Oh, well, as long as they're just banning Islamic symbols, no big deal." Well, other symbols, including Christian crosses are also affected.

Now, the specifics of this religious symbol or that don't really matter to me. I'm a heretic/heathen/infidel no matter how you look at it. However, a ban on the display of religious symbols represents a dangerous precedent: the banning of any form of expression by the government must not be taken lightly. After all, freedom of expression is a fundamental aspect of any effective democracy. And the fact is, I see absolutely no overriding reason that makes the French ban on religious symbols at all appropriate. I may not agree with the irrational anti-French sentiment from some groups in this country, but this is one case when I think the French are definitely in the wrong.