:bism:
I can understand your discomfort with this, but I don't see anything wrong with the law forcing people to interact with people who hide their faces if they do so for religious reasons. For example, in the U.S., it is well known that Amish communities are exempt from paying certain taxes that are leveled at other ordinary U.S. citizens, but the law makes that specific exemption to the Amish community in the matter of taxation for religious reasons.
Generally-speaking, we cannot as a society afford to let societal or cultural discomfort dictate how the law treats people. I understand the fact that seeing a
niqabi (that is, a
niqab-clad woman) is a strange phenomenon to people. I myself, having been raised in the U.S., culturally initially found things like
niqab strange when I first started practicing Islam (and even before Islam), but I respect the women who do so because they are simply doing what they feel is pleasing to God. And I understand what you mean about the
niqab feeling ominous, but I honestly think that has more to do with the cultural mores with which we were raised than anything objectively sinister about the clothing in itself. Also, women who wear
niqab say they feel empowered and adopt the covering out of devoutness and personal commitment, and I honestly find something about that nonconformity reassuring and and inspirational. Especially in the West, I am sure this cannot be easy for the women who do so, specifically in the hostile environment that has developed since the emergence of terrorist organizations like
Daesh.
format_quote Originally Posted by
Pygoscelis
As a fellow Canadian, I am a little torn on this. I see her point, but would want to be fair about it. Should people be forced to interact with people who hide their faces? Would this shop owner have responded the same way to a man in the winter that refuses to take off a ski mask or a bandana over their face in the summer? This issue goes beyond religious freedom and persecution (though that is definitely a part of it). There is just something that feels ominous to a lot of people about people wearing masks.