the 40' square of fabric that threatened an entire nation

I find the moves in France to ban hijab to be profoundly worrying and disturbing. First and foremost, since hijab is a religious practice, such a ban would constitute a major step backwards for the cause of religious freedom. Let us be crystal clear on this. A 40-inch square of fabric on a woman's head does not constitute any kind of harm or threat to any person. That idea is so ludicrous I still can't believe that I have to say this. Muslim women wear hijab for the same reason that they wear ankle-length skirts or other long, flowing garments: modesty. Are we next going to force women to wear revealing clothes so that we can be sure they're not adhering to some oppressive ideology? Where will it stop? Secularism can become an ideology just as much as any religion can. In France, as in Turkey, this ideology is now expelling women from schools, juries, and other public offices because of the way they dress or what they choose to believe. People in the West shriek so loudly about the enforcement of hijab, yet they do not seem to understand that an enforced ban on hijab is no different. In Iran or Saudi Arabia or certain other countries, I would be deprived of some of my citizenship rights if I didn't dress according to the government's ideology. In Turkey and France the same is true, it's just a different ideology and a different dress code that's enforced. Both are violations of a woman's basic autonomy. Both are wrong. France must stop this course it's on and it must stop it now. It must not violate women's basic autonomy to choose the way that they dress and the religious beliefs that they hold. It must not become a place where people are not free to practice their religion. It must not become some kind of secular fundamentalist state.