22 Dec 2003 And in a Stunning Victory, More Human Rights Were Lost

Thousands of French Muslims have gone to the street to protest Jacques Chirac’s ban on head scarves, yarmulkes and crosses in French public schools.

Chirac apparently is afraid that a child in France might accidentally grow up with a conscience.

Based on what we’ve seen from France, he needn’t worry.

The Washington Post report on the matter has this line:

“Chirac said a ban was needed because France’s cherished tradition of secularism — won a century ago when the separation of church and state was enshrined in the constitution — was now under threat from rising Islamic militancy.”

Forced secularism, to the Post, is something that is “won.” And no, the sentence was not in an opinion column.