Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen oppose on religious freedom – Le Monde

SÉVERIN MILLET The fight against Islamism and the defense of animal welfare on the one hand, secularism and religious freedom on the other. And, in the middle, Marine Le Pen’s plan to purely and simply prohibit Muslim women from wearing the veil outside their homes and the mosque, as well as the ritual slaughter, without prior stunning, of cattle, making it possible to offer halal and kosher meats. For a week, the two qualified candidates in the second round of the presidential election have staged, from a distance, their opposition on these subjects, which will not fail to be present during the televised face-to-face which will oppose them on Wednesday April 20. The recurring debates for more than fifteen years on mothers accompanying school trips or veiled students suddenly seem very far away. With the veil, the far-right candidate affirms that she does not prohibit a religious sign, but “an Islamist uniform”. In the event of an infraction, a woman covered with such an “Islamist” headscarf in the street or a place open to the public would be fined and fined. Asked about the feasibility of such a repression, the candidate of the National Rally (RN) draws a parallel with the control of the obligation to wear seat belts, which “the police are very good at enforcing”. “For the wearing of the mask, we did it well for 65 million French people”, argues the deputy director of his campaign, Jean-Philippe Tanguy. “I am betting that when the law changes, everyone will submit to the law”, assured Marine Le Pen, Tuesday April 12, on France Inter. Read also: Compare the programs of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen for the presidential election The far-right candidate formalized her intention in a bill tabled in February 2021. In reality, prohibition there is broader than the only veil, with which certain Muslim women cover their heads, since article 10 of this document provides for the prohibition “in the public space of signs or outfits constituting by themselves an unequivocal and ostentatious affirmation of ideologies [islamistes] “. Could some beards be considered Islamist too? Mr. Tanguy does not exclude it, certain supporters of this ideology “defining the Islamist beard very precisely”, according to him. “An Islamist uniform” not “Muslim” Emmanuel Macron denounced, Friday April 15, on Franceinfo, “an extreme project” which would make France “the first country in the world which prohibits the veil in public space”. He criticizes such a prohibition in the field of religious freedom. “Prohibiting any religious sign in the public space is not secularism,” said the candidate president in an interview with the online media Brut on April 8. According to him, if this project were carried out, the Constitution would oblige Mrs. Le Pen to also prohibit in the street “the yarmulke, the cross, the other religious signs” so as not to discriminate between believers. You have 59.28% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.