Why the French are wrong to ban the burqa.

I don't like religion. Religion leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. I don't like Christians who want everyone to know about it. I don't like what it can do to people in the extreme cases. I don't like the resistance to reasoned debate it breeds - "how dare you challenge my religion" is often used in the same way as "how dare you bring up the death of my child". I don't like the ways in which the Abrahamic religions have stifled our attitudes to sex, and sexual equality for centuries - even secular people are still prone to the sexually repressive values which still permeate Western Europe. I don't like burqas - they are a potent symbol of sexual repression, gender inequality and patriarchy.

Yet I will fight to the death for people's right to have a faith. The far left made a mistake when it took the phrase "opiate of the people" too literally in the twentieth century. Decades of religious oppression and division have left scars across Russia, China and elsewhere which are only beginning to heal. The far left made a mistake in rejecting liberalism. I have always felt that at its heart, the socialist society we on the left seek should be more free and more democratic than any other. There is no one left on the left who wouldn't say that the Soviet Union was a repressive, distopian nightmare state. We agree that liberalism (which protects individuals and communities alike) is, and should remain a core value of the left.

The new threat to the rights of individuals and communities comes from the right. An ever more mainstream and centrist right, which is rejecting its own liberal values and pandering to xenophobia and division. It is not just far right nutters like the EDL, BNP or the French Front National we have to worry about. Cameron has recently claimed that multi-culturalism doesn't work, and wants to instill a so-called "British identity" into our culture (I'll ignore for now my view that there is no unified British identity). Centre-right governments across Europe are making assaults on Islam. The Swiss banned the building of minarets on mosques (yet church spires are fine). The French ban on the burqa came into effect this week.

The French have always had a secular society. It was one of the founding principles of their revolution in the late eighteenth century. There was a strict separation of the church and state - something I agree with. When they banned the wearing of religious items in schools in 2004 (including muslim headscarves), I felt this was perfectly fine. Children ought to have a secular schooling and be allowed to think and choose for themselves when they are old enough. But the banning of the burqa is not secularism, no matter how much the French government hide behind its banner. This ban directly singles out Islam, and it prevents some of its believers from practicing their religion (though, of course not all muslims believe the burqa to be necessary, some do). This is yet more pandering to the right, "security-conscious", xenophobes, racists, Christian fundamentalists. It not only reflects, but in fact serves to intensify hostilities between east and west.

If we really want to be constructive in tackling fundamentalism, perhaps try, y'know, being nice - stop treating the muslim world as an oil well to be invaded when we please, or treating them with suspicion when they come to live in our countries.  If Christians want to practice their religion, then they should expect that others will want to practice theirs - burqas and all, and that atheists like myself may want to have reasoned debates with them. Who knows, maybe we could all learn something from it. As long as everyone practices nicely, in an agression free environment - we're all happy right?

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