FRENCH PLACE MOSLEM WOMEN IN A MORTON’S FORK DILEMMA

Today, April 11, 2011 is a day of shame for the French—the birthplace of modern democracy which on this date banned the veil for Muslim women. Such laws are not new. Similar regulations were imposed on Jews in Tsarist Russia in the 19th century (the May Laws of May 15, 1882) which among other injustices, prohibited the Hasidim from wearing their traditional kaftan head-covering or displaying their long side-locks in public. In modern day France, some estimate there are perhaps only 2000 Muslim women in all of the country who follow the tradition of wearing the burka or niqab in public places. The new law, which exacts a fine of about $200 dollars for each infraction, would seem to have the undesired effect of simply forcing this small minority of (isolated and possibly maltreated) Muslim women to live an even more-cloistered life restricted to their homes. The new French law places these women in a variant of a Morton’s Fork dilemma that presents them with two equally undesirable choices: either break a deeply-held emotional and religious conviction, or be humiliated in public and pay a substantial fine. To force upon a person such a decision is unfair and unbecoming of a great democracy such as France. Wouldn’t it be better to permit them the freedom to express their religious beliefs as they see fit-- and for a just state to ignore their dress preferences, which by all accounts harm no-one. By singling them out this way, France has now instituted a state “dress code” for its Muslim population, the second largest religious group in the nation. One wonders will they next institute legislation to control habits of Catholic nuns, or the size or color of the head-covering elderly Catholic women wear when they attend mass, or will they force the Hasidim to cut their beards, or stop the cruel practice of circumcising their infant boys. This seems a sorry day for human dignity and religious freedom in France. What will come next?

* Morton’s Fork dilemma. Named after John Morton, Lord Chancellor of England in 1487, who under the rule of Henry VII decreed that if a man lived in luxury and spent a lot of money he must have excess cash and his tax should be raised. On the the other hand, if a man lived frugally, with no signs of wealth, he must have saved a lot of cash and therefore his taxes should be raised.