Sarkozy, six European nations weigh banning the burka

Further evidence that European democracies- like a depressing number of American citizens- do not share our constitutional commitment to freedom of religion is the support both in France and in five other European countries of a legal ban on the burka- the garment conservative Islam prescribes for women.

Concern about the ongoing Islamification of European society is both understandable and arguably wise. But forbidding anybody's religious practices for no better reason than to discourage the practice of their religion is a course utterly irreconcilable with American- or democratic- values.

It should be noted in passing that when the European Union had the opportunity to acknowledge the role Christianity played in the development of European culture in its founding documents, it refused- much to the dismay of the Vatican and of many Western conservatives. Suddenly, it seems, Europeans have decided that it's OK for the state to take sides in religious matters- but apparently only as long as it takes sides against somebody's faith.

The initiative by Sarkozy comes in the wake of a national referendum in Switzerland banning the construction of new minarets- prayer towers built adjacent to mosques for the purpose of providing a platform for the calling of the faithful to prayer.

With all due respect to the governments of Europe and to our own home-grown religious bigots, discriminating against Islam is apt to be counterproductive if one's purpose is to discourage the militant hatred of the West by Islamic fanatics. That, and contrary to our own values.

And kinda dumb.

HT: Drudge