PORTLAND, Ore. – A law backed by the Ku Klux Klan nearly a century ago to keep Catholics out of public schools is still on the books in Oregon, one of the last states in the nation to prohibit teachers from wearing religious clothing in classrooms.
Both Pennsylvania and Nebraska have similar laws, which try to balance the constitutional conflict between protecting students from the establishment of religion in schools and the rights of teachers to express their beliefs through their dress.
Oregon's law, originally aimed at priest collars and nun habits, survived a legal challenge in the 1980s by a Sikh convert who wanted to wear her turban in the classroom and was recently upheld by the state's Legislature.
A Muslim teacher in Pennsylvania lost a similar challenge in 1991 to that state's even older law for the right to wear a headscarf at school. So far, it has not posed any serious legal issues in Nebraska.
You might read that and say “Good! Islam is evil and should be opposed!” I would agree in principle but not in practice. The only way to counter Islam and other false belief systems is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Using the proverbial sword of the secular government cannot change hearts. When we abdicate religious approval to the government to say “Religion A is OK, Religion B is not”, we hopelessly entangle ourselves in with an inherently godless organization that cares nothing about truth and everything about power.
The bigger issue has to do with letting the government decide what is appropriate religious practice or not. There is a long history of the state picking sides in religious issues and it normally came out badly for everyone involved. It was once criminal in three states to wear Roman Catholic collars and habits. The various Acts of Uniformity in the 16th and 17th centuries in England required Christians to use a particular liturgy and belong to a specific denomination where they had to attend weekly or face fines. Untold numbers of Christians were martyred by the state in Europe during the Reformation for refusal to baptize infants or practicing believers baptism or for failing to bow the knee to Rome. History is replete with acts of repression under the guise of religion. Ask a Jew what they think of the state having acceptable and unacceptable religions. Ask our brothers in China the same question. We get all self-righteous when our armed forces are not permitted to practice Christianity in the Middle East but feel no similar qualms about restrictions on Islam in the West.
The state deeming which religions are permitted and which are not is fine as long as your religion is in favor. It is not so swell when you find yourself in the minority. This is not at all about Islam and it is not about terrorism. There are laws aplenty against terrorism and the Constitution is clear that the right to the free exercise of religion is protected. This is about the state using religion to control people and too many Christians being willing to go along because of a hatred of Islam.
Today it is Islam and many Americans applaud. Tomorrow it is homeschoolers. Then it is Catholics. Then Protestants. Think it can't happen here? Think again. The Holocaust was only 65 years ago. Never be so naïve as to underestimate the ability of the government to use any means, any excuse to control the people.
1 comment:
I agree with you in some respects and disagree in some respects.
The burqa and the hijab are often used to make a political statement as well as a religious statement.
To not be able to see someone's face is to not be able to confront the person.
Can imagine the furor that would be caused by a teacher who insisted on weraring his or her KKK hood while teaching?
We are an open society and have a right to see people's faces in a public setting.
It is a dangerous precedent to allow this practice and contributes to the demeaning treatment of these women.
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