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Controversial Freedoms

A History of Modern Religious Tensions in France and Around the World

By Jonah YannisPublished 6 years ago 9 min read
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By the time most American students enter high school, they have been acquainted with the Constitution of this country and more specifically the First Amendment. The amendment that protects the American peoples’ right to free speech, protects press/media, and protects the freedom of worship and religion. Because these freedoms and protections have been in our Constitution since the foundation of our country, they seem required for any functioning democracy. However, this is not always the case, while these freedoms and protections help a democracy survive and succeed, they are not required for democracy to work. European nations are perfect examples of this, the two most notable examples are in England and in France. England passed strong “anti-slander laws” approved by their parliament in 2013, which says anybody who hurts someone through publication/general publicity, can be charged under this law. In France, all conspicuous religious symbols in public are banned, including the Hijab and the burka, which are instrumental to the Muslim faith.

When this law was being discussed and voted on in 2010, France was in a pivotal point with the Muslim community, the people were scared of possible terrorism and the government chose to use that fear to pass unfair laws against a religious minority in their country.

“Wearing a burka in public is set to become illegal across France after senators passed a nationwide ban. The country’s upper house voted by 246 votes to one in favor of the measure, although there were many abstentions. This means a measure banning full-face Islamic veils, also including the hijab, (...) was ratified...(Allen, 2010)"

The law is based on France’s volatile history with religion in their nation, and the policy of keeping religion a deeply personal affair and not to demonstrate your faith publicly. This policy is rooted in France’s history with the Catholic Church and the religious wars that plagued the country for centuries before the French Revolution. When the Republic of France was established, religion was deemed a necessary evil for the people but was kept in check by the newly installed Republican government. This mindset on religion stands strong to this day, with religious groups being barred from major public actions. The question then becomes, what about religious freedoms? The most famous example of this is the question about Muslims in France and how freedom of religion applies to their community. There seem to be two major factors rooted in the Muslim tradition that is the center of social tension in France; head coverings for females, and drawings of their Prophet Muhammed. These 2 major points of the Muslim faith have been the center of conflict between the government, the people of France and the Muslim citizens for years, with no real consensus on what is to be done. As it stands right now, the law banning hijabs and burkas is still on the books, but Muslims leaders in France have been outspoken about their opposition to the law. The other major conflict point is drawings of the Muslim prophet, which led to a major crisis in France in 2013.

The Charlie Hebdo newspaper in France made headlines across the world when the headquarters of the newspaper was attacked by Muslim extremists and nine employees were shot and killed. The newspaper had published a satirical image of the Muslim prophet Muhammed, a sin according to Muslim tradition. Two brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, had been under police surveillance for previous Islamic militant activities prior to the attacks at Charlie Hebdo, invaded the newspaper’s headquarters armed with machine guns and killed the editor along with eight other employees of the newspaper. “Witnesses said they had heard the gunman shouting ‘We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad’ and ‘God is Great’ in Arabic while calling out the names of the journalists....” More attacks on police and other hostage situations occurred as the week went on, and the hunt for the Kouachi brothers evolved. Two police sieges at a supermarket and a gas station, along with gunfire in the streets with police drew the chase for the brothers out for days. When the brothers were finally killed by police, the country was in shock and important questions about religion in their nation were brought to the front of newspapers and media outlets for weeks. Up to that point, the attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper was one of the largest and the most dangerous terror attack in France, both the people and the government had no contingency plan for what to do next. Western nations pride themselves on their ability to be accepting and our ability to work through problems as a group, and not let fear take society to chaos. But France, as well as other nations, are beginning to abandon this principle of universal freedom, and are using fear and the actions of a few, to justify the banning of those viewed as "different."

The controversy over the Charlie Hebdo newspaper artwork began shortly after the violence had ended. Muslim leaders were shouting for an apology from France, as the debate on Hijabs in public grew, tensions between the French and the Muslim community only grew. With Muslims around the world protesting against the violence, but also against the unfairness that they believe the French-Muslims have been put through post-violence. Besought by increasing outspoken right wing on all sides, Muslims in France found it easier to let the steam run out from the controversy than to waste time trying to defend themselves. This, unfortunately, only led to louder and more widespread right-wing "propaganda" against Muslims in their community. This constant battle between fear and freedom has been constant, only accelerated by the Paris bombings in 2015.

In a survey conducted by the Chatham House Royal Institute of International Affairs, sixty-one percent of French citizens oppose further migration of people from Muslim majority nations across the globe. (Reid.) With 4.2 million Muslims living in France today, the position of those Muslims politically and socially in their society has been a hotly debated and controversial topic in France. With France’s current president Emmanuel Macron passing laws to decrease anti-Muslim rhetoric, Marine Le Pen, France’s right-wing presidential candidate from the 2017 presidential elections, came close to winning the runoff election but lost by 33 points. Le Pen was a right-wing extremist who was calling for the ban of Muslim immigrants, and although Le Pen did not win, the French election drew worldwide attention as it would have possibly shaped the future of Muslims both in France and in Europe. Muslims are in direct fear for the lives they had built for themselves in, what for many of them is the only country they’ve ever known. The French people believe Muslims are a violent religion and must be kept away from the lives they’ve built, but peaceful Muslims are just as shocked by the attacks as anyone else. So then where is this fear based? How does a governing body, both religious and otherwise, combat radical Islamic terror? What is the role of the people in helping heal these divides? This debate about Muslims in western cultures begins with this question; Do religious freedoms apply to everyone or only the people who made the law? Should religion be respected by the official governing bodies of nations? To understand these controversial and heavily debated questions, there must first be a base knowledge of Islamic laws and Western laws, and the history of modern religious freedom in western democracies.

Islam is a religion stemming from the Abrahamic faiths including Judaism and Christianity, with a man by the name of Muhammad as the figurehead, as the last of God’s prophets. The early history of Islam was a violent one, as Muhammad's followers sought to spread their religion throughout the land, coming into conflict with other kings and leaders who opposed them. Islam spread through the Middle East, Africa, and into parts of southern Asia, gathering a massive following. It is this early history of the spread of Islam that has made people conclude Islam is a “violent religion.” Although there have been major terror attacks across the globe, in Muslim majority nations and otherwise, by Muslim extremists and organized terrorist groups, the generalization that "all Muslims are violent" is misinformed and incorrect. However, this is the narrative being driven by the media across the world. It seems as if "religious freedom" doesn’t apply to people that disagree with the mainstream culture. When an act of terror has been committed in the western world by a member of the social majority, the media uses terms such as, "lone wolf" and "delusional" to describe the perpetrator of the attack. When an act of terror is committed by a social minority, such as a Muslim in a majority Christian nation, the terms used and the conclusions reached by the media are unfair and incorrect, and most always leap to the word "terrorist." When a shooting on the Las Vegas strip shook the United States to the core, with 58 people being and killed, CNN reported on President Trump’s comments. “...Trump was also asked whether the shooting was an act of domestic terrorism. He declined to answer. On October 4, in Las Vegas, Trump was again asked about possible legislative action on guns. "We're not going to talk about that today," he responded. "We won't talk about that.’” In the weeks following the shooting, the White House did not declare the shooting a form of domestic terrorism or take any steps to prevent any mass shootings in the future. When a car was driven onto a bike path in New York City a few weeks later, the president used the fact that the man driving the car was a Muslim to unfairly generalize the Muslim populations of the world into a violent and hostile extreme religious group.

Laws are supposed to be just and fair. Leaders are supposed to unify and bring the people together in the face fear and violence. Muslims are too often blamed for the actions of those that the majority of the members of the faith disagree with when they are just trying to live in the world without being targeted and persecuted, through implicit and explicit laws and social constructs. The Charlie Hebdo attacks were controversial for one reason; Does freedom of speech equal hate speech, and what is the proper response for when a large group of society is being targeted and forced to live as a voiceless minority in a nation that is as much theirs as it is anyone else's? Freedom shouldn’t just apply to the person who is in power, if the actions of voicing an opinion offends, or sought to offend a group, while violence is not the answer the countless peaceful protests of Muslims around the world to protest the injustice Muslims face day to day in western nations cannot be discredited. Western nations must be proactive about preventing terrorism in their nations, but in a way that that doesn’t just push the problem away, but in a way that actually helps solve it.

Works Cited

“Charlie Hebdo Attack: Three Days of Terror.” BBC News, BBC, 14 Jan. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30708237#orb-footer.

Chrisafis, Angelique. “'We Don't Want You Here': Muslims Fearful as France Prepares to Vote.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 May 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/05/france-muslims-fear-frustration-runoff-vote-marine-le-pen.

Cillizza, Chris. “The Stunning Difference between Trump's Reaction to the Las Vegas Shooting and the NYC Attack.” CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Nov. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/11/01/politics/trump-vegas-nyc/index.html.

MailOnline, Peter Allen for. “France's Senate Backs National Assembly and Bans Women from Wearing the Burka in Public.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 15 Sept. 2010, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1312016/Frances-Senate-bans-women-wearing-burka-public.html#ixzz4wRwxdgAS.

“Paris Attacks: Suspects' Profiles.” BBC News, BBC, 12 Jan. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30722038.

Reid, David. “Europe’s Fear of Muslim Immigration Revealed in Widespread Survey.” CNBC, CNBC, 8 Feb. 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/02/08/europes-fear-of-muslim-immigration-revealed-in-widespread-survey.html.

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About the Creator

Jonah Yannis

Freshman Film Student

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something." -Plato

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -George Bernard Shaw

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