A Veil Closes France's Door to Citizenship
(New York Times, July 19, 2008) In the article, "A Veil Closes France's Door to Citizenship," Faiza Silmi was denied French citizenship from France's highest administrative court "on the ground that her "radical" practice of Islam was incompatible with French values like equality of the sexes." Ms. Silmi was nervous applying for citizenship, but she said, "I would never have imagined that they would turn me down because of what I choose to wear." Her husband and children are French citizens and she wanted citizenship as well. The court explained that her citizenship was denied because of "insufficient assimilation" into France, which made her bring the case to a higher court. This case is the first time French court judged assimilation based on laïcité-France's strict separation of religion and state.
- Does a nation have a right to judge a person's assimilation based on the religious traditions they practice?
- Is there a line between secularism and the freedom to practice religion?
- What does assimilation mean?
- Does assimilation include having the same values and ideals of the particular nation? How does one measure another person's values?
- How can a nation determine if a person is integrated?
