Religious Fashion Wars

Wearing clothing that expresses one's religion is as old as civilization itself. However; the places where it is appropriate to wear it allowed, legally prohibited, or legally mandated are becoming more and more confused. Just like California banned wearing of any gang-related insignia in public schools, France has taken a step to ban certain clothing. In the case of France the ban is not on wearing gang-related clothing, but on wearing conspicuous religious apparel in public schools.

This includes such diverse attire as the turbans by those of the Sikh religion, the hats, head coverings, and suits worn by orthodox Jews, Buddhist novice monk's robes, burkas and hijabs worn by Moslem women, and presumably includes wearing a gold cross like the kind worn by rappers in the music videos. A catholic nun or priest visiting a public school in France now has to have a wardrobe makeover before attempting to visit any school.

In Bangladesh the opposite has happened, the government ruled that children cannot be forced to wear religious garb in public schools. In other countries like Saudi Arabia it is mandatory for religious wear to be worn in public schools, as is mandatory prayer. We wonder how the anti-religious wear is to be treated.

Men are often less effected than women from this debate over the appropriateness of wearing religious clothing, but as is the case of the Sikhs in France they are being told they cannot wear their turbans to public school. If one is not of that particular religion maybe the importance of this is not easily understood.

But to the Sikhs being told that they cannot wear a turban is equivalent to a cowboy in Texas being told he cannot wear a cowboy hat. Seems like the high court in Bangladesh got it right when they determined that religious wear should not be compulsory but a matter of personal choice.

If you are a Mormon in France, you can still wear your sacred undergarments since they do not show. All this controversy is only over attendance in public schools and what you are allowed to wear and what you cannot wear. They have long had dress code rules in public schools based on trying to establish some kind of semblance of order. France even has a history of having school uniforms and maybe they should go back to that.

The idea that school uniforms reduce the perceived difference between the socio-economic classes. The argument against is that school uniforms restrict student's freedom of expression and that poorer families cannot afford them. We do feel a bit sad though that religious wear has now been equaled to gang insignia because the religious wear for men is quite interesting.

The diversity of men's religious fashion is quite spectacular and men are still encouraged to wear the proper garb for attendance at a religious ceremony; however if you do wear a cowboy hat, even if it has a gold cross on it, please take your hat off when you enter a church. This is not a religious matter but a practical one, the people behind you cannot see when you are wearing a hat.