The Forum > Article Comments > The headscarf is no innocent piece of clothing > Comments
The headscarf is no innocent piece of clothing : Comments
By Kees Bakhuijzen, published 18/4/2008Do Muslim women wear the veil out of their own free will or are they forced to wear it?
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>>Atheism is still a belief, even if atheists don’t agree about anything else<<
Only in the most abstract sense.
To twist the statement "I believe there is no god" into being a belief of its own is to stretch the language a step too far.
"Believe" in this sentence is a synonym of "I consider", "I think" or "I have come to the conclusion that..."
In the context of religion, "believe" takes on a different dimension, in that it sets aside the cognitive process of "I think" in favour of "I have faith, without the need for evidence"
>>once atheism gets caught up in an ideology, it can be just as dangerous as anything else: we all saw that ditching God didn’t make ideology safe.<<
Interesting angle. Atheism is "just as dangerous" as religion, eh? Which might also be phrased "religion is as dangerous as atheism", proving nothing more than that it is we humans that are dangerous.
>>Why not respond to the real point, which is that (arguably) what France is doing is to impose atheism (whether it’s a “religion” or not)<<
It is not possible to "impose" atheism, and this clearly is not what the French are trying to do. You are (probably deliberately) confusing this with the contortions of a secular State attempting to exclude religion from its agenda. Not easy, given how sensitive religions are about each others' symbols.
>>I wonder if France would ban an atheist symbol, if one emerged<<
Now you're being silly, aren't you?
Atheists do not need symbols, since (once again) we are talking about an absence, not a presence, of belief.
Also, very few atheists believe that religion should be banned, since it is used by so many as an emotional crutch.
But we all believe that religion should not be used as a weapon, or a motivator to hatred, or as a tool for the repression of ideas.