In Case Anyone Was Wondering If The Burkini-On-A-Beach-Ban Would Extend To Catholic Nuns…

In Case Anyone Was Wondering If The Burkini-On-A-Beach-Ban Would Extend To Catholic Nuns… August 26, 2016

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(image via Pixabay)

…And I’ve been seeing memes asking just that question all week, with photos of cheerful nuns in full habit frolicking on beaches, so I know it’s on everybody’s mind…

…it does. 

The Catholic Herald just reported that the deputy mayor of Nice, France, stated that nuns aren’t allowed on the beach, either. People are welcome on the beaches of Nice, France, wearing bathing suits and nothing else. A public expression of religion is considered a “provocation” in Nice, and “Church and State are completely separated” in France.

Now, I’ve also learned today that France’s top administrative court overturned the burkini ban today,  ruling that a piece of non-revealing women’s clothing is NOT a provocation and not a symbol of women’s inequality either, so perhaps nuns (or religious sisters, since nuns are usually cloistered) will get to go to the beach anyway.

When I see a situation this messed up, I try to ask myself how the human race got to this point, and what personal conversion I need to focus on to begin to change. Do I, too, think you can emancipate someone by force? Do I think that what other people wear, be it too much or too little, too frumpy or too luxurious, is my business? Have I fallen into the trap of thinking that because someone is not a member of my religion, that person threatens me personally? The only one I can change is myself; I can never force someone else to change. Personal conversion is always the first step in healing social sins.

And if anyone is interested, here is a statement by the inventor of the burkini on why the garment was designed in the first place. It had nothing to do with oppression.

And here is an interview with a woman who chooses to wear the burkini in the pool. There’s no point in discussing how the burkini effects women’s rights or anything else if we’re not willing to actually speak to the women in question about their own experiences.


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