It is a shame but no accident that this bill is lumbering toward law, lacking only the Big Man's hen scratch. With majorities of 276-20 (Sénat) and 494-36 (Assemblée nationale) this bill hasn't advanced by some sort of parliamentary sleight o'hand.
The sparse law can be found here: http://www.senat.fr/leg/pjl03-209.html
That such a puny thing could be so misconceived and so defective is not a little amazing.
First, nowhere does this law enumerate any offending religious articles or behaviors. What can these be? Privately making the sign of the cross? Humming Salve Regina? And just what is the government contemplating for next year's Ash Wednesday, when Catholics display their distinctive sign of mortification? Why has Ash Wednesday never conflicted with the infamous French secular tradition before this bill?
Second, at what point does mere apparel "manifestent ostensiblement une appartenance religieuse"? The hijab worn by an atheist has no religiously expressive power. Are atheists to be denied permissible secular fashion expression? If so how are the Republican Mutawwa'in to discern whether it is a pious Muslim or a fashion maverick atheist behind the hijab? Wearing white is sacred to Shintoists, wearing red to the neo-sannyasins of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Are these colors to be forbidden some and not others?
Just where does the offending religious quality reside? Clearly there is nothing inherently religious in attire or signs or colors themselves.
Third, why does this law only pertain to French schools (scil., "Dans les écoles, les collèges et les lycées publics...")? The French tradition of secularism, which is relentlessly invoked to justify this bad law, seems writ very small. Does the tradition not extend to the civil service? Does it not apply in the public halls of the French government? If not, the question becomes just what harm is being wrought in the schools by wearing the hijab that wouldn't be wrought in the civil service?
Again, that such a puny bill could be so poorly thought out and badly crafted is not a little amazing. How sad that French secularism cannot withstand basic freedoms.
DGB