Veiled Ignorance

Had trouble thinking coherently about the introduction into the West of the Muslim practice of veiling women, of Muslim women covering themselves altogether with burqas? Does your respect for, indeed your esteem for the religious life, as well as the liberty to practice it as you see fit run smack into your suspicion that the veil has more to do with control than with modesty? Then take a look at this article by Claire Berlinski to open your eyes.

My favorite passage is found where she unapologetically answers the question as to why we in the West should ban the burqa.

Because this is our culture, and in our culture, we do not veil. We do not veil because we do not believe that God demands this of women or even desires it; nor do we believe that unveiled women are whores, nor do we believe they deserve social censure, harassment, or rape. Our culture’s position on these questions is morally superior. We have every right, indeed an obligation, to ensure that our more enlightened conception of women and their proper role in society prevails in any cultural conflict, particularly one on Western soil.

By the way, expect the most vigorous defense of the practice of veiling to come from the political Left, all in the name of the putative benefits of multi-culturalism, of course. Liberalism, I'll say it again, is a "sickness unto death."