The CyberPhilosopher

There is an article on MSNBC click here  describing how France has decided not to make an individual a citizen due to their beliefs.  In this case, the individual is a Muslim woman and the belief is her submissiveness to her husband.

This raises alot of interesting questions, not the least of which is what right does the state have to accept or deny someone based on their religious or social beliefs.    But, on reading the article, it does not appear that they are asking her to leave, nor are they otherwise limiting her in any way.  All they are doing is saying that your belief is not compatible with our beliefs of the equal rights of men and women.

But how far can you take this?  How far should it be taken?  A legal scholar says in the article, ‘If you follow that to its logical conclusion, it means that women whose partners beat them are also not worthy of being French’ (Lochak).  But, maybe this is ok?   In fact, while I believe anyone should be allowed to come to the USA and stay here assuming they do not break real laws (personally, I think the USA should have it in the legal system that an immigrant can stay as long as they have a Job, but that does not mean they are a citizen.. This would legalize people, encourage them to be traceable, and maintain the principles on the Statue of Liberty), if you break a Law, maybe you should loose your citizenship under certain circumstances.  Now, I would say that someone who beats their spouse is not worthy of being an American, but maybe I’m not either for some other reason in someone’s mind.   But there are generally different rules for being kicked out of a group than being let into it.   You can be disowned by a family if your really bad or they are really petty, but being adapted by a family is a completely different animal.

So maybe its not that bad that a society refuse complete membership based on principles.  If an immigrant came to the USA and proudly stated that they believe not all men are created equal, and whites are superior to everyone else, I’d be very much against granting them Citizenship, while would be willing to let them stay so long as they did nothing illegal (they can have their opinion, and I want them to be able to say it out loud so that we know who to watch closer, and if they do something illegal, pounce).  It is like saying to a Christian church that you want to be a member, but disagreeing that Jesus ever existed. 

There very well may be some bigotry involved in the case in France, but the reality of it is they are rejecting the application based on a social belief and not based on their religion.  True, their social belief is rooted in their religious belief, but lets face it, a great deal of what everyone believes is.