France passed a law that goes into effect on Thursday that bans “conspicuous” religious items in schools, including Christian crosses, Jewish yamakas, and Muslim headscarves. A few days ago, a group calling themselves the Islamic Army of Iraq kidnapped two French journalists and are demanding that the law be repealed.
Now I am no fan of the French, but I do feel bad for the journalists and their families. I am very curious to see how France responds to this. We already know that Spain and the Philippines fold like deck chairs, and France certainly has quite a history of waving the white flag. Maybe France should wake up and realize that anything they do that angers radical Muslim terrorists will likely end in this sort of situation and take some action.
Despite their policy of preemptive surrender, I don’t see France changing this law. Personally, I don’t think that sort of law would fly here due to free speech and religious freedom issues, but France seems to have no problem trampling on its citizens’ rights.
Let’s just hope they follow Italy’s example of not backing down last week when Enzo Baldoni was kidnapped and murdered by the same group that now holds the French journalists.
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