A proposal by French right-wing senators to prohibit Ramadan fasting for minors under 16 reignited the debate in the country over religious freedom. For many, the proposal risks creating a climate ofā¦
brusselssignal.eu
Another national rift over Islam: France weighs ban on Ramadan fasting for minors
Summarize
Anne-Laure Dufeal
A proposal by French right-wing senators to prohibit Ramadan fasting for minors under 16 reignited the debate in the country over religious freedom.
For many, the proposal risks creating a climate of suspicion, thus further eroding ānational cohesionā.
The controversial measure appears in a Senate report released on November 24 by members of the Republican Party. They argue that restricting fasting for children is necessary to protect them from ācommunitarian pressuresā.
Over the course of six months, 29 Republican senators conducted hearings they say revealed attempts at āreligious entryismā into public institutions, from schools to sports clubs.
Their report lays out 17 recommendations intended to curb Islamist influence, including bans on fasting and on the wearing of the veil by girls under 16 in public spaces, as well as tighter scrutiny of foreign funding for mosques and associations.
āWe have made a harsh but realistic assessment,ā said Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio, the Senator who oversaw the report. She argued that measures traditionally framed as religious freedoms can mask coercive social norms.
āWhen you are a citizen of this country, religion is irrelevant. Faith has no place in the public sphere,ā Eustache-Brinio said.
But for many French Muslims, the proposed fasting ban risks doing more harm than good.
Madiha Belabed, a social worker in southern France, told Brussels Signal yesterday the reportās approach could āerode trustā between Muslim families and state institutions.
āA blanket ban risks creating mistrust and putting professionals in unmanageable situations,ā she said.
āWho would be responsible for checking whether a child is fasting? Would families be punished? Itās impossible.ā
Most Muslim families, she added, already approach fasting with flexibility.
āAs a child, I didnāt fast every day,ā Belabed said.
āI tried it now and then because I wanted to do what the grown-ups did. But there was no obligation. I was often reminded that fasting wasnāt required and that I could stop whenever I wanted.ā
She said if she became a mother, she would allow her own child to try fasting gradually, āa half-day here or thereā.
āRamadan is above all a time of sharing,ā she said. āThatās the value I want to pass on.ā
A total ban, Belabed added, āfeels stigmatisingā, as if Muslim religious practice was ādangerous in itselfā.
Following the reportās publication, several Muslim organisations, including the Association for the Defence against Discrimination and Anti-Muslim Acts and the Co-ordination of Muslim Associations in Paris, yesterday denounced what they described as the āstigmatisationā of their religious practices.
In a letter addressed to GĆ©rard Larcher, President of the Senate, they accused lawmakers of exploiting Islam for political gain.
āThis umpteenth report is part of a pattern that has become sadly familiar to millions of French citizens of the Muslim faith: The systematic political exploitation of their religious practices,ā the letter said.
They also criticised what they called an āindustrial production of suspicionā through biased investigations and sensationalist publications that distort the daily reality of Franceās Muslims.
The senatorsā recommendations were released shortly after a report by the national polling and market research firm IFOP, which described what it called a āprocess of re-Islamisationā among Muslims in France, especially the young.
The study, published on November 18, noted a rise in religious practice, stricter views on gender roles and increased exposure to Islamist ideas.
More than 1,000 Muslims were surveyed.
The Senatorial report and the IFOP survey have reinforced fears among some officials that France is drifting away from its secular republican model.
Muslims today make up about seven per cent of Franceās adult population. In 1985 they were only 0.5 per cent.
Islam is now the countryās second-largest religion behind Catholicism.
www.thetimes.com
