Interesting conversation day

[tyblazitar]

At school today, I had a small discussion with a couple of people from my class about the hot topic in Norway these days, whether or not Muslim policewomen should be allowed to wear their hijab at work. It was nice getting more perspective on the matter, but I still don't think there are any good arguments against it

Comments

[lothair]

Arguments against hijab-use for police women: The police is either a secular or a Christian institution (seeing as the official religion in Norway is Christianity), and the police uniform is a symbol of the institution, not an item of clothing. Therefore one should not be allowed to mix religious symbols (which the hijab certainly has become after all of the controversies around it in the last decades) with the symbol of the secular/Christian institution. Of course, this also means that Mormons, Jews, etc. shouldn't be allowed to wear their religious imagery whilst in uniform, which I believe that they do today. However, this is an argument against the wearing of these symbols, not an argument for the wearing of new symbols.

[tyblazitar]

Those were the exact arguments I heard too. First of all, I do not consider the hijab a religious symbol as much as a cultural one, as there are muslims who aren't required to wear it, and non-muslims who choose to wear it. Besides, the hijab was around long before Islam

[lothair]

Well, if you see it as a cultural symbol then my arguments don't stick. However, just last year or the year before that there was a huge debate in Turkey when the Prime Minister's wife wore a hijab at an official ceremony. Turkey probably has one of the most secular institutions in the world, and a large minority of the Turkish population saw the hijab as a religious symbol. Of course, the Muslim world is just as large and diverse as the Christian world, and attitudes to the hijab is different in Somalia, Pakistan and Lebanon. I guess I mean that it is enough that 25% of practicing Muslims believe the hijab is a religious symbol for the hijab to actually become a religious symbol

[tyblazitar]

"Turkey probably has one of the most secular institutions in the world, and a large minority of the Turkish population saw the hijab as a religious symbol."

I assume you meant "majority" rather than "minority", yes? :p

I certainly see reason in your arguments. However, I believe that in allowing the police to use hijabs, the hijab will perhaps be weakened as a religious symbol.

And while I thoroughly agree on the secularized state, I see allowing hijab in the police more like a way of saying "we will allow people of all religions and cultures in our country". The police, or the state in general should not actively promote or support any one religion as an institution, but to disallow individuals in their service to wear anything that might reveal their religious affiliation is too much, in my opinion.

[lothair]

I meant large minority. The majority of the populace was indiferrent. : P

And I certainly see merit in your arguments, but I guess that we'll have to disagree on the symbolic value of the hijab. If it could be seen only as a cultural symbol, then that would have been fine. However, as long as (for example) many Somali immigrants/refugees, who make up over 10% of the people seeking asylum in Norway, use the hijab actively because of its religious significance, then I mean that it should be treated as a religious symbol. If significant numbers of police women felt that this went against their personal liberty then I would be forced to reconsider this opinion, but I do not think this is the case today.

[tyblazitar]

Haha, yay for indifference.

Yes, I guess we have to agree to disagree, but at least it was nice to have a small discussion. ^^