Bye Bye Burkas

An overwhelmingly popular piece of legislation is moving through the French parliamentary process to ban the wearing of burkas in public settings across the country. This follows a decision in 2004 which banned the wearing of burkas in French public schools. When asked why, the French governments spokesperson Luc Chatel replied, "why not?" While surprising to many, this decision follows a historical trend of France to be adamantly secular. If the ban, which is very popular in the lower tiers of French government, passes France will become the second European country ever to do so, just behind Belgium.