Blair Seeks Ban On Habits

[brendan1104]

[url="http://www.avantnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=299"]http://www.avantnews.com/modules/news/arti...php?storyid=299[/url]
Blair Seeks Ban on Habits

Temporally realigned by admin on 2006/10/27 7:56:12 (7700 reads)
By Ion Zwitter, Avant News Editor
London, December 2, 2006

Prime Minister Tony Blair said today he will seek a ban on all public displays of habits, the traditional garments worn by monks and nuns, calling them "marks of separation". The move echoes similar trends in France and Canada, where laws are already in effect banning the wearing of nun's habits in schools and other publicly-funded institutions, and in the United States, where lawmakers have proposed anti-habit legislation that would also proscribe "visible unmentionables".

A D V E R T I S I N G

Prime Minister Blair's call for a habit ban echoes remarks made earlier this year by House of Commons leader Jack Straw, who asked that nuns visiting him in his office should remove their habits, arguing that the habits made communication more difficult.

Mr. Straw, who suffers from seventy percent hearing loss and refuses to wear a hearing aid, calling them "an affront to his personal vanity", explained that he finds it impossible to lip read effectively when speaking to a nun wearing a full habit.

"It [the nun's habit] is a mark of separation, and that is why it makes other people from outside the community feel uncomfortable,” Mr. Blair said at a news conference, echoing some of Mr. Straw's sentiments.


Titus in a Monk's Habit (artist's impression)The habit is a garment traditionally worn by both male and female members of various religious orders, often members of the Catholic faith.

For males, the traditional robe is complemented by a hood that effectively obscures a large portion of the head; for women, a veil serves the same purpose, but may cover the nose and mouth as well. The mouth covering can be optionally removed by the wearer when, for example, singing songs such as "How do you solve a problem like Maria".

Mr. Straw has said he thought community relations were not improved by nuns wearing veils covering their faces, as they were "a visible statement of separation". He said he now asked nuns to remove full-face veils when they come to meet him. While the nuns are free to choose not to accede to his request, he said, if they do refuse his practice will be to plug his ears, close his eyes, and screech "la la la la la" in falsetto until they leave.

"Communication is a two-way street," Mr. Straw said. "You have to practice give and take."

While the Blair Habit Ban has been applauded by some members of the British community, others have expressed doubts regarding both its legality and its efficacy.

"What's wrong with hobbits?" Michael Coles, a bartender at the Goose and Gherkin in the Clerkenwell area of London, said. "I think it's crazy to ban Bilbo."

Hermione Rumpet, a social anthropologist with Oxford University, said Prime Minister Blair's habit ban will likely have the reverse effect than intended.

"In the annals of social history," she said, "one can demonstrate again and again that the act of banning something, such as a nun's habit, will nearly always fuel a backlash that will undermine the intention of the ban. It becomes an instant symbol of repression. I'm not a nun, but if they go ahead with the ban I know I, for one, would be tempted to put one on simply as a form of social protest."

Prime Minister Blair's official spokesman Tom Kelly said Mr. Blair "is not particularly concerned about whether the ban results in fewer visible nun's habits on the street, or if it paradoxically leads to more of them."

"The actual result is immaterial," he said. "What the ban is about is about saying in no uncertain terms that we don't like to be made to feel uncomfortable by other members of our society. And if being told to remove their habits makes the nuns and monks feel uncomfortable or reinforces the feeling that they are not accepted in our society -- that's it's us vs. them, insiders vs. outsiders -- well, that's a shame, but it's a price we're willing to pay. It's all about principle."

[mroger]

I don't think anyone, at anytime ever needs to cover their face. It is shameful and disrespectful no matter what your religion or ethnic background. Nuns do not need to cover their faces. That is barbaric. As it is, the habit IS a mark of separation. So let us separate with JOY!! Let us rise above the heathens would not let a nun into a school.

[veroni213]

[cathoholic_anonymous]

Ah - so this is a parody of Mr Straw's demands of Muslim women who wear niqaab. Does it really belong in Vocation Station?

[quote]I don't think anyone, at anytime ever needs to cover their face. It is shameful and disrespectful no matter what your religion or ethnic background. Nuns do not need to cover their faces. That is barbaric.[/quote]

It is barbaric only if you are forced to cover your face. I know many Muslim women who are niqaabis (veil-wearers) and two of them are the most passionate advocates for social justice that I've ever met, including the promotion of gender equality in countries where it doesn't currently exist. For both of them the niqaab is an extreme way of renouncing physical vanity and announcing that they want to be judged on what they say and what they do, and not on what they look like.

I think Mr Straw was within his rights to ask the women of Blackburn (which, incidentally, is only fifteen minutes away from my home town) to remove their veils when visiting him. This was Mr Straw's original and only request, and most of his constituents were happy to comply with it. Problems came when certain tabloid papers used Mr Straw's policy as a way of challenging the right of Muslim women to wear veils on the street.

For a more informed perspective on Islamic covering, I'd like to recommend this article: [url="http://www.modernmuslima.com/unveiled.htm"]Unveiled Frustrations: Notes to non-Muslims from a Muslim Woman[/url].

Edited January 16, 2007 by Cathoholic Anonymous

[Laudate_Dominum]

I think the french revolutionaries, the nazis and the communists did this first. Not very original.

[Mercy me]

Catholic Anonymous is right. This is a parody on an incident involving a muslim woman.

[AlterDominicus]

there not ripping away my sisters habits, no way! Not without a fight

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Mercy me' post='1167171' date='Jan 16 2007, 05:14 PM']
Catholic Anonymous is right. This is a parody on an incident involving a muslim woman.
[/quote]
phew!

[Jennifer]

Tony Blair is The sooner he goes the better !!!

[cathoholic_anonymous]

Did you read that it is a parody? Or are you worried about the rights of the Muslim women to wear veils? I think that is going to be protected.

[VeniteAdoremus]

While the subject is quite serious (I totally agree with CA on it - Straw was right to ask, but the women have a right to wear a veil in principle), I actually found this quite amusing.

[HisChild]

Parody or not. . . My personal opinion, insofar as the discussion of Muslimas are concerned, is that if a Muslim woman wants to wear the hijab, who has the right to tell her she cannot because it makes that other person uncomfortable? The same thing with a Catholic habit? Were I to be a sister, and God willing, one day I may be. . .I'd be apt to say 'sure I'll stop wearing my habit when you stop wearing that rubber band you call a skirt, the thong you can see from the top of your low slung pants/skirt, and the blouse that lets it ALL hang out!' Because your clothing, as immodest as it is, makes ME uncomfortable!

[philosophette]

[b]For males, the traditional robe is complemented by a hood that effectively obscures a large portion of the head; for women, a veil serves the same purpose, but may cover the nose and mouth as well. The mouth covering can be optionally removed by the wearer when, for example, singing songs such as "How do you solve a problem like Maria". [/b]

That made me think that it was a parody... for a moment there I was really lamenting the fact that the media was EVEN worse than I thought it was!

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='HisChild' post='1167399' date='Jan 17 2007, 03:06 AM']
Parody or not. . . My personal opinion, insofar as the discussion of Muslimas are concerned, is that if a Muslim woman wants to wear the hijab, who has the right to tell her she cannot because it makes that other person uncomfortable? The same thing with a Catholic habit? Were I to be a sister, and God willing, one day I may be. . .I'd be apt to say 'sure I'll stop wearing my habit when you stop wearing that rubber band you call a skirt, the thong you can see from the top of your low slung pants/skirt, and the blouse that lets it ALL hang out!' Because your clothing, as immodest as it is, makes ME uncomfortable!
[/quote]


Hear hear.

[philosophette]

[quote name='HisChild' post='1167399' date='Jan 16 2007, 08:06 PM']
Parody or not. . . My personal opinion, insofar as the discussion of Muslimas are concerned, is that if a Muslim woman wants to wear the hijab, who has the right to tell her she cannot because it makes that other person uncomfortable? The same thing with a Catholic habit? Were I to be a sister, and God willing, one day I may be. . .I'd be apt to say 'sure I'll stop wearing my habit when you stop wearing that rubber band you call a skirt, the thong you can see from the top of your low slung pants/skirt, and the blouse that lets it ALL hang out!' Because your clothing, as immodest as it is, makes ME uncomfortable!
[/quote]


Yes, I agree..... I was at work the other day, and one of my coworkers bend over and I was "favored" with the sight of her "christmas" thong, complete with little jingle bells. I hope that it does not happen again, but if it does I am going to have to approach her about it, especially as we have a lot of VERY weird men who come to our place of business and it makes me worry about her particular form of advertising.... which pretty much says, "Objectify me!"