If the nun in question were ignorant of women's right to vote, she'd also be refused citizenship.

As someone who lives in a neighbouring country, I'm sad to witness the deterioration of French culture at the hands of radical Muslims, so I applaud this decision.

And to clear up a misconception I noticed several times in this thread: you can't tell a rabbi by his clothes. Only Orthodox/Hasidic rabbis are recognisable as such, but rabbis of the more modern movements (the vast majority) dress like office workers.

I see somebody wearing the Muslim (or otherwise) bedsheets nearly every day at my job. We get way too much sun here, so on the aforementioned rickets are probably not as much of a problem, but on the other... doesn't it get dangerously hot under there? Isn't that a sign that maybe wearing them is *stupid*?

Religion poisons everything.

I live in a city in the northern United States that receives relatively little sunlight, like many cities in France and other European countries, and that has a growing population of Muslim immigrants who also wear hijab. As a feminist I am uncomfortable seeing women dressed in this way, but as a mother I am outraged seeing what happens to some of their children as a result. Rickets, that is, which comes from feeding at the breast of a covered and cloistered woman who not surprisingly is severely deficient in Vitamin D.

Just a few months ago, in my neighborhood park, which is frequented by women in hijab, I observed two little boys, a toddler and a preschooler, struggling to cross a distance of a few yards, on legs in the shape of parentheses. It was my first time ever to see children afflicted by this cruel disease, but considering the size and growth of my cloudy city’s hijab-wearing population, I am sure it won’t be my last.

Good point, Leeandra! I wonder if the French authorities would refuse citizenship to a foreign nun who applied for it.

...was originally meant to break the strangehold of the Catholic church on French government and society, but very few people would bat an eye at a wimpled and veiled Catholic nun walking down the streets of Paris, nor seriously make the argument that her choice of religion or clothing is inconsistent with French values. Yet she is very nearly as covered up as a woman wearing the niquab...

I highly recommend a book I've been reading through this month:

"Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space".

It's by John Bowen, an American anthropologist who was living in France when the main headscarf events took place in 2003.

What he's trying to do is look at why the veil, of all possible catalysts, became the focus of the debate.

What law is she breaking? So far as I know, there is no law against wearing the niquab in France. She has been doing so for a number of years without being arrested.

Also, and correct me if I am wrong, but French citizens (just like Americans) have a "civic duty" to vote, but there is no law forcing them to do so. Otherwise, French authorities would need to arrest a number of Jehovah's Witnesses, who for religious reasons refuse to vote, as well as the rest of the 15% of eligible French voters who did not vote in the last elections.

vossssov: I think your comment is utterly wrong. Citizenship in any country is a privilege, not a right. To be given that privilege you must fulfill certain conditions. In the US, you must have a cursory understanding of US history, civics, and politics. Basically you have to prove your Americanness in a way that's compatible with what we as Americans think of ourselves. Same thing goes for the French. They are not discriminating against sex, religion, or race, but are affirming the woman's unFrenchness - which she herself preserved. Why bestow the privilege of French citizenship on someone who does not want to embrace French culture and did not make an effort to understand French values? Basically she didn't want to be French, she just wanted the French citizenship.

The victim argument doesn't hold water either. She doesn't claim injury in any of her fillings. For the Court to assume that her psyche was somehow hurt by her own cultural practices would be nothing short of prejudiced. It would basically criminalize her cultural background.

It is a bit of a paradox, but multiculturalism and freedom are, in many cases, incompatible. So far, we have been able to balnce religious wackos and democracy in the US, mainly because we have had lots of space. But really, how can you believe in freedom if that freedom includes religions that deprive their asherants of freedom?

to apply for citizenship means that you have every intention of abiding by that country's laws, first and foremost. This isn't about a veil. This isn't just about France. This is about abiding by laws and understanding that you cannot ask an entire country to overlook your law-breaking even for religious purposes.

Countries have every right to refuse citizenship to people whose values, religious practices, or other cultural differences will not assimilate into their countries. And if those values, religious practices, and other cultural differences mean the person is entitled to break the law, then no, they should be denied citizenship.

Citizenship is not an automatic right. It is a priviledge of a country. And those who are radically different from the country in which they want to be citizens need to understand it's nothing personal.

American should not have to take every person who wants to be a citizen either. It's not a right. And we should change our laws to that state that if you are here illegally and you have a child, that child is NOT AUTOMATICALLY A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES and has no automatic benefits for health, education, or anything else.

It may be her right to dress and do as she chooses, or perhaps as she has been subtly trained to choose; but it is an earned privilege to become a citizen of a particular country.

This woman decided, upon moving to France, to behave in a clearly non-French fashion. She went out of her way to set herself apart from the French, and does not participate in French society in any meaningful way.

They aren't deporting her, only acknowledging the fact that she just isn't French.