Speaking of stupid things from stupid people, I'll post something here in response to the aforesaid stupidity displayed elsewhere while decrying France "banning" the burkha, since it's being studiously ignored:
"muslims genitally mutilate their females when they're young - I can provide a description if you'd like, but you'd not like to hear what that entails - on religious grounds. Shall we allow that?
muslims lash their daughters and sisters, if the family's honor is sullied by the female caught alone in the company of a male-other-than-husband, on religious grounds; they kill them outright if the family's honor is sullied by the female leaving islam. Shall we allow that?
muslims beat the women whose hair is not thoroughly covered when not wearing a full burka, on religious grounds. Shall we allow that?
These things occur regularly in Europe - France included - and they are happening here.
Indians (dot, not feather) used to burn new widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands. Shall we allow that if it's a religious grounds claim?
These practices, including wearing of the burkha, are imposed on muslim women, mostly by men, but sometimes by other women as well. The few muslim women who were quoted as being oh-so-happy to wear their tents are an example of the piece's author cherry-picking certain opinions to validate his narrative. They are not indicative of the majority of muslim women in the West and, as there are other muslim women who have stated openly what I've just told you, and more, Mary's point on that score is most certainly not invalidated.
In Britain, piggy-banks are coming to be seen as a "cultural no-no" because the pig offends muslims in all contexts, on religious grounds. Shall we allow that? Should you not be allowed to have a piggy-bank on your desk because a passing muslim might be offended, on religious grounds? Because this is how it works with islam; first it's just them - on religious grounds - then it gets spread to you and your behavior because it's offensive to them, on religious grounds.
France has banned the burka to protect its culture, because it's a tool by which muslim men keep their women from Westernizing, thus assimilating into the culture of the host country, and then is used to harass and bully the native population and other citizens.
Any religion - which islam is not; it's a whole-life ideology with a religious component - that insists its adherents militate against and refuse to assimilate to a culture and its people in another country, should be pushed back against, and hard."