Can Government-Sponsored Religious Intolerance Happen in America?
By Rich Olszewski In March 2004, France, in a much publicized move, banned public school children from wearing symbols or attire that outwardly exhibit a religious affiliation, including large Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps and, most controversially, Muslim headscarves (hijabs). Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation, has a similar headscarf restriction, which was recently upheld in the European Court of Human Rights. And in June 2004, a Russian court upheld a total ban on the religious activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses within the city of Moscow. Russian government prosecutors justified the enjoinder, claiming that Jehovah’s Witnesses were a danger to society because they incited religious hatred, forced families to disintegrate and encouraged their members to refuse both medical treatment and military service. The apparent, but not necessarily proclaimed, reasons for such seemingly religiously-intolerant state actions fall into three general categories: protection of secularism, pro
