A CULTURAL INDICATOR? – AT 8:12 A.M. ET:  France continually presents itself as a land of cultural tolerance.  But there may be limits even to French understanding and patience.  Consider:

France's lower house of parliament passed a ban on Islamic burka-veils Tuesday, a move that is popular among French voters despite strong opposition from human rights advocates and Muslim groups.

There were 336 votes for the bill and just one against at the National Assembly. Most members of the main opposition group, the Socialist Party, refused to participate in the vote.

Following Tuesday's vote, the ban on face-covering veils will go in September to the Senate, where it also is likely to pass. Its biggest hurdle will likely come after that, when France's constitutional watchdog scrutinizes it.

The main body representing French Muslims says face-covering veils are not required by Islam, and it worries that the law will stigmatize all Muslims.

France has Europe's largest Muslim population, estimated to be about 5 million of the country's 64 million people. While ordinary headscarves are common, only about 1,900 women in France are believed to wear face-covering veils. Champions of the bill say they oppress women.

COMMENT:  Surveys show Americans to be far more tolerant, and that the French measure would face greater opposition here.

But should it?

A country can be exceedingly tolerant and understanding, yet insist on reasonable limits.  In America, as in France, religious rituals and beliefs cannot trump the civil law.  The Muslim veil, which, as the story indicates, is not required by Islam, masks the face.  In America we take a very dim view of masking, and many, if not all, states bar it by law.  It prevents reasonable identification for legal purposes, and is associated with racist organizations.  Imagine a driver's license with a picture of a masked face.

I was once interviewing Dr. Milton Helpern, the late, legendary medical examiner of New York City.  During our talk he received a call from an orthodox rabbi protesting that one of his parishioners, who'd died without a physician present, was scheduled for an autopsy, a procedure forbidden by Jewish law.  Helpern, himself a Jew, patiently explained to the rabbi that the civil law required an autopsy because of the circumstances of death, and that he could not subvert the law.   The rabbi backed down.

The same standard should be applied to the masking produced by the Muslim veil.  Muslim leaders should be encouraged to ask that women in their congregations stop wearing the veil in public.  And it should be banned as a matter of consistent, wise public policy. 

The French parliament is correct. 

July 14, 2010