The Freedom Files
columnist: RS Davis

Topic: Religion
Islamic Religious Freedom in the Western World

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Yes, they deserve it, too.

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by RS Davis
(Libertarian)
Friday, May 9, 2008

So, The Local reports about a young Muslim girl and her losing battle against the Nanny State.  It seems that the German school she attends has co-ed swimming classes in physical education, and according to Hijab, the Quaranic code that requires women and men to dress modestly, the form-fitting nature of swimsuits breaks that code and would make a sinner out of the young girl.

Now, Muslim guidelines are about as varied and inscrutable as Christian guidelines - it depends upon who you talk to. In some Christian faiths, it is a sin for a woman to not wear a hat at church.  In some Muslim faiths, a woman must be covered from head to toe in a burqua, while others are more permissive.  But all require modesty from both men and women - the difference is where they set the bar.

As The Local reported:

The administrative court in Dusseldorf ruled that the state's responsibility to educate the girl outweighed the potential infringement on her religious freedom.

The 12-year-old girl's parents sued her school in the northern German city of Remscheid after the school refused to allow the girl to skip swimming class. Citing religious reasons, the parents said they did not want their daughter to participate because her body would not be covered.

The ruling means the girl must participate in swimming lessons starting next week, Sabine Ernst of the Alexander von Humboldt School told German news agency DDP. Ernst declined to state what the consequences could be if the girl declines to attend.

Her parents' attorney said the family plans to appeal and that the decision should not be considered precedent-setting.

The state's responsibility to educate the girl? Swimming classes? How important are those, really? I mean, c'mon - they can't be more important than her religious freedom and her parents' rights to raise her as they see fit.

Seriously - what's next? The schools responsibility to serve her a well-balanced meal outweighs her right to not eat pork?

I don't know if this will help the girl, but I wonder if she is aware of the Burqini? They are now showing up on the beaches of Australia, as The Christian Science Monitor reports:

Ms. Laalaa is one of 24 young people of Arab descent who signed up for a 10-week surf lifesaving-training course.

"Normally, I'd wear cotton trousers and a top but they get very heavy in the water. This meets our cultural requirements," she says, preparing to go out on a beach patrol. The burqini that she wears was specially designed to allow Muslim women like her to join one of the surf lifesavers clubs.

The burqini is the brainchild of Ahiidi, who make sportswear for the modern Muslim woman. They havethree different styles, the slim fit:

The modest fit:

And the active fit:

Now, these swimsuits don't do the same for me as those on the Women of the Israel Defense Forces, but I suspect those that buy these aren't really trying to turn me on, anyway.

But the bottom line is that even if these burqinis aren't acceptable to this German girl and her family, their religious freedom should trump any kind of "responsibility" that the State believes it has in teaching her how to swim. If this were America, I'd be absolutely apoplectic over this blatant violation of their basic human rights.

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2008 RS Davis, all rights reserved.
Published: Friday, May 9, 2008
Last modified: Friday, May 9, 2008

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