Hijab

Many years ago, when the dean was annoyed with me, she assigned me to teach a survey course in world religions. That is how I became expert in the hijab controversy. 

A number of countries have criminalized Moslem religious clothing, including veils, masks and the hijab, which covers a woman's hair, neck and sometimes her face. These same counties tend not to criminalize the head coverings, collars and black dresses worn by Christian preachers and nuns. America has not banned the costumes worn by ultra-orthodox Jews. I don't think we care about the outfits worn by Moslem men from oil-rich nations.  

The argument for criminalizing Moslem items is that the loose clothing and facial coverings may disguise terrorists. Yet today all Americans, including stupid people, Protestants and superheroes, are urged to wear masks; the terrorist-protection angle may seem less compelling. 

It occurred to me that terrorists wearing hijabs might be ineffective.   

Also the desert religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have a history of subjugating women and forcing them to wear wigs or bathe or whatever.  So should we ban the hijab? Or ritual baths? Or can we trust Islamic women to make their own scarf choices?

I'm not very religious. I do believe that my ancient religion played a major part in how it became possible to organize safe towns where strangers could safely pass one another on the sidewalks. In the old days, if you were wearing a Zeus hat, you could often trust the strangers wearing Zeus hats not to sneak up on you with a knife. Or something like that.

It might be common sense to let people decide for themselves what to worship and how to signal their status.