On November 29, 2003 the BBC News reported, "French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has announced plans that could in effect ban Muslim women from wearing headscarves in public institutions. Mr. Raffarin told a meeting of his governing UMP party on Friday that he plans to introduce a bill that would be aimed at protecting women...A motion approved by 90% of UMP delegates at Friday's meeting near Paris called...
On November 14, 2003 The Guardian reported, "France edged a step closer yesterday to outlawing Muslim veils in schools after a cross-party commission of MPs [Members of Parilament] backed legislation to ban all visible symbols of religious conviction from state-run institutions. The decision by the 31-member commission is sure to inflame an already heated debate...
On November 5, 2003 the Religion News Service reported that "a Muslim girl who was suspended twice for wearing a religious headscarf to her Oklahoma public school has filed a suit saying her rights to free speech and religious exercise have been violated. The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, filed suit Oct. 28 on behalf of Nashala Hearn, an 11-year-old...
On October 31, 2003 The Christian Science Monitor ran an article on a controversy over the hijab sparked by Turkey's annual president's party celebrating the anniversary of the republic: "While foreign diplomats and opposition lawmakers - pillars of Turkey's Westernized and staunchly pro-secular elite - were invited to bring their spouses, male members of the conservative Justice...
On October 19, 2003, the First Amendment Center published an editorial defending the right of 11-year-old Nashala Hearn to attend Oklahoma public schools wearing her Muslim head scarf, a practice that is currently banned under dresscodes designed to prevent gang activity. The author compares the incident to that of Aroniakeha Elijah, a junior at Salmon River Central...
On October 15, 2003 Reuters reported that "an 11-year-old Muslim girl suspended from an eastern Oklahoma school for wearing a religious head scarf was allowed to return to classes on Wednesday, wearing her head covering... Nashala Hearn will be allowed to wear her head scarf while Muskogee school officials evaluate their dress code policy that forbids any kind of head covering. "
On October 11, 2003 Reuters reported that "an 11-year-old Oklahoma girl has been suspended from a public school because officials said her Muslim head scarf violates dress code policies. Board officials met Friday to discuss the fate of suspended sixth-grader Nashala "Tallah" Hern, who was asked to leave school in the eastern Oklahoma town of Muskogee on October 1 because she refused to remove her head...
On October 10, 2003 The Christian Science Monitor reported that "following a decision by Germany's highest court, allowing teacher Fereshta Ludin to wear her head scarf in class as long as there are no state laws against it...a majority of German states, including Berlin, have announced plans to pass such laws.
In the debate that has ensued, politicians and Muslim...
On October 1, 2003 the BBC News reported, "A row over women's rights to wear headscarves has broken out again in France - but this time supporters of the right of Muslim girls to cover their head in school have a new and unusual champion. Laurent Levy is the father of two teenagers - Lila, 18, and Alma, 16 - who last week were barred from the Henri Wallon lycee in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. He is...
On September 27, 2003 The Plain Dealer reported that "to...members of the Islamic Center of Cleveland's Women's Committee, wearing the hijab has become more than a symbol of religious conviction. It's a feminist statement - indicative of a kind of feminism that is quite different from the traditional women's lib movement...
On September 26, 2003 The Globe and Mail reported on the controversy surrounding the hijab, or Muslim headscarf, in Quebec: "The current hijab controversy involves Irene Waseem, 16, who was recently expelled from College Charlemagne, a private Catholic girls' school, for wearing the hijab on her first day back at the...
On September 26, 2003 Anchorage Daily News reported on the upcoming ordination of Diane Johnson Van Parijs as a Buddhist priest: "Her head will be shaved, and she will be officially ordained with her Buddhist name, Jishin ("Compassionate Heart/Mind"). Van Parijs will become a Buddhist priest, rare for a Western woman in the Shin Buddhist tradition and most likely a first for an...
On September 25, 2003 Atlantic Highlands Herald reported that Mona Elgohail, a Muslim teen who was not permited to wear her head-scarf with her school's naval uniform, had resigned from the Marine Academy of Sciences and Technology. Mona and her mother Nemera Elgohail say that the hijab is required of their religion, but school officials argued that the head covering went...
On September 24, 2003 Duetsche Welle reported: "Germany’s highest court on Wednesday confirmed the right of a female Muslim teacher to wear a headscarf in the classroom. The move lays to rest a long-standing row in Germany, that has caused controversy all over Europe.
Fereshta Ludin will be celebrating a victory on Wednesday, after the Federal...
