Herman Salton

Veiled Threats? Islam, Headscarves and Religious Freedom in America and France Herman Salton

For a variety of historical, cultural and political reasons, the Islamic veil has become an increasingly controversial matter in Europe. This is particularly the case in France, where Parliament passed, in 2004, a piece of legislation that prohibits students from wearing the Muslim veil (with any other conspicuous religious sign) in the classroom. This book compares the French and American attitudes towards religious symbolism in general and the Islamic veil in particular. Against conventional wisdom, it argues that before the passage of the new statute, the French and American legal systems adopted a substantially similar approach that respected religious insignia. This is hardly surprising, the book suggests, for the American conception of secularism is in many respects stricter than the French idea of 'laïcité'. The book also tries to demolish some popular myths surrounding the 'affaire des foulards': that the French legal system is fiercely secular; that the American one is strongly religious ; and that France was, in 2004, confronted with a veritable veil emergency that rendered the passage of the new statute all but inevitable.