Secularism under Threat: The Case of Burkini Secularism in Europe is in danger and religious rights are being undermined with it. ! Secularism represents one of the main principles of today’s democracies and it can be defined as the principle which separates the state from religious institutions. However, I would like to point out that the principle has three major implications: firstly, the state ought not to discriminate against anybody practicing their religion, ; secondly, the state ought to remain neutral on religious matters and ; thirdly, the state ought not to give advantage to one religion over the another. As such, secularism remains an ideal to be pursued by democracies. Even today’s most consolidated democracies which are considered to be secular, such as the United States of America US and the the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandUK, have various different issues when dealing with secularism. For example, in the US the sentence “In God We Trust” is printed on the paper moneythe banknotes of the currency, whwhilst ile in the UK the national anthem is called “God Save the Queen”. However, …show more content…
Since France is an influential country, this eventthe ban might even have a wider potential impact in Europe. Previously Above, I mentioned the three implications of secularism (which are interconnected) and here I will shortly present how the case of burkini fits within these implicationsin.
1. The state ought not to discriminate against anyone practicing their religion.
By imposing sanctions for wearing a burkini, not only are Muslim women are not only being prevented from openly practicing their religion, but also their freedom of choice (of what to wear) is being limited too, by being told what is an appropriate way of dressing is. Therefore, the Muslim women are being discriminated on multiple grounds.
2. The state ought to remain neutral on religious