The French cabinet has approved a draft law banning most religious symbols in state schools, launching the legislative process Paris says it needs to stem a rise in militant Islam among its Muslim minority.
The centre-right government, pushing through the measure on Wednesday with unusual speed, will submit to the National Assembly next Tuesday the draft law barring Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from school premises.
“The government bill clearly reaffirms the neutrality of public schools. It does not aim to ban religious symbols in everyday life,” President Jacques Chirac told the cabinet, according to government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.
“This text is necessary,” he said. “Doing nothing would be irresponsible. It would leave teachers and principals alone in the face of growing difficulties.”
France’s five-million strong Muslim community complains the draft law is aimed against it and the leaders of all faiths in France have criticised it. Pope John Paul has described it as a limit on religious freedom.
French officials defend the ban as an act of tolerance, arguing that religious symbols can be tools to convert pupils and could provoke reactions from youths of other religions. It will apply from the start of the new school year in September.
The draft reads: “In primary and secondary state schools, wearing signs and clothes that conspicuously display the pupil’s religious affiliation is forbidden.”