To see or not to see

My dear Friends

Occasionally on a Thursday evening I drop into a pub on the South side of the city and join a group called Crosstalk-we have a meal and then bat around an issue which has been decided on for that week.

This past week the subject was the Birka and the Hijab-has France the right to try and ban them? The Burka is the long black dress which covers a Muslim woman completely apart from her eyes and the Hijab is the veil traditionally worn by Muslim women over their head and shoulders but not over their face. France has made a strong case for banning the use of these types of dress, but will Britain folow suit? And if so, why?

Not being able to see someone's face, some say, is scary, you don't know if you can trust them. Someone in our group said she thought the burka should be banned in places where the woman has to do business, the bank or the post office for example. And is it all a form of male oppression? Studies have revealed that the vast majority of women wearing the burka do it out of their own free will. One lady on a station was producing gurgling noises from under her burka and a lady on the station who heard it concluded that she was feeding her baby in privacy!

Perhaps even more daunting is the niqba, a form of dress where even the eyes don't show and the wearer sees through a form of gauze. Surely this is extreme? But Britain has a more tolerant attitude to all this and its unlikely they would impose a ban on Muslim dress.

I am sensitive to the issue of religious dress at the moment as I have just 'laid down' (given up ) my vows after 11 years. although I have the option of renewing in 6 months time. So I am not wearing my habit (which I only wore at home anyhow) at the moment. I still wish to be known as Sister Gila on the blog as the term 'Sister' is so much wider than just in the religious context and I am still working for The Little Sisters of Joy (possibly to be renamed The Little Sisterhood of Joy)These Muslim women feel that they are 'dressing up for God'-what do you think?

Shalom from
Sister Gila