Laws and rules are intend­ed to underl­ine France's commit­ment to the princi­ple of secula­rismPARIS: France’s parliament has banned lawmakers from wearing any religious symbols under a new “neutral” dress code, an extension of the country’s strict secular rules that is seen as going too far by some critics. Under the change approved late Wednesday, members of the National Assembly must avoid “the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols, uniforms, logos or commercial messages or political slogans.”The regulation was brought in following an outcry over an MP wearing a football shirt in the parliament, but the inclusion of religious symbols in the new rules quickly became a talking point and a focus of attention. Some politicians support extending the ban on religious symbols to universities and even to the workplace, while some see secularism as camouflage for an Islamophobic campaign against the veil. Lawmakers will be allowed to deviate from the new dress rules if they can justify their appearance as traditional clothing, however. Moetai Brotherson, an MP from the French Pacific island of Tahiti, will be authorised to continue wearing his lavalava, a traditional Polynesian skirt.

Source: The Express Tribune January 25, 2018 12:33 UTC