Head scarf ban no triumph

Two Belgian schools have forbidden the wearing of headscarves. Writing in the daily De Standaard Rik Torfs, an expert in canon law, writes that this is no victory: "The wearing of religious symbols is part and parcel of religious freedom. Whether believers are interpreting their own religious tradition correctly in doing so is irrelevant. Even misinterpretations of the Bible or the Koran are protected under religious freedom. … Religious freedom was pushed into the background after the 9/11 attacks. It had to make way for the priority of public safety. Of course there's a huge difference between a headscarf in class and an airplane crashing into an office block in New York. … Nonetheless: nowadays the unfamiliar makes us more afraid than it used to. … Perhaps the ban is an urgent requirement, but it can never be a triumph. Any restriction of freedom is always a defeat, even if it is made in the name of freedom."

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