Separate...

The world has had lots to say about 15 French towns that banned the full-body burkini swimsuit at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks.”

All this seems a clear violation not only of the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the Constitution, but also of the liberté and égalitéthe French supposedly hold dear. It is important to remember that these burkini bans, like the 2010 French law outlawing headgear that covers the face, are not so different from American garb laws wielded against Catholics in the not-so-distant past.

In one of America’s first culture wars, Protestants attacked Catholicism as un-Christian, immoral and anti-democratic. In the late 19th century, several states passed laws, obviously aimed at Catholic nuns, that forbade teachers from wearing clerical garb in public schools. Today, such statutes remain on the books in Pennsylvania and Nebraska.

France and the United States both separated church and state in an effort to avoid revisiting the bloody religious wars of early modern Europe.  The French sought to undercut the power of religious institutions, fashioning a secular nation in which almost all expressions of religion were exiled to the private realm of home and church. It is fine to be Catholic, Protestant or Jewish, but you could not exercise that liberty in school, on city streets or at the beach.  More issues are involved, yet I agree.

Just a thought.