Why did France ban: a bathing suit? Bans on body-covering bathing suits for Muslim women in some French towns highlight the growing tensions over Islam in Europe.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

The shocking scenes this summer quickly went viral: Armed police officers on French beaches surrounding Muslim women and ordering them to either remove their body-concealing clothes or leave the beach.

The police were acting on new laws that have been interpreted as bans on a type of Muslim bathing suit called the "burkini." Coined by its inventor, the word combines burqa--a traditional head-to-toe cloak some Muslim women wear for modesty--with bikini. But the term can refer to any Muslim coverings women wear on the beach.

Following a series of terrorist attacks in France carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS), about 30 French seaside towns banned any kind of religious clothing from their beaches. Though the bans don't refer specifically to burkinis, that's how they've been enforced. Supporters of the bans see them as a defense of French culture and values, and women's rights; to some French, the burkini is a symbol of women's subservience in Muslim culture.

French Prime Minister Manuel Vails, who supports the bans, says the burkini is part of "the enslavement of women" and that it's "not compatible with the values of France."

Islam vs. Secularism

But for those who oppose the bans, they're discriminatory and unjustified.

"The ban constitutes a grave and illegal breach of fundamental freedoms," says Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations' human rights office. The bans, he says, also "fuel religious intolerance and the stigmatization of Muslims in France, especially women."

The showdown over the burkini is only the latest controversy over the principle of secularism, which has been a defining feature of French political life since the French Revolution in 1789. The idea is to keep government out of religion and religion out of government in order to protect the rights of French citizens. But critics say the principle is increasingly used to justify measures that single out--and discriminate against--Muslims.

In 2004, France banned religious symbols in public schools, including large crosses, Jewish skullcaps, and Muslim head scarves. A 2010 law made it illegal for Muslim women to wear veils in public that cover their faces.

A number of factors have made France ripe for a clash between Islam and Western values. France has one of the largest Muslim populations in Western Europe--about 5 million out of a total population of about 66 million. Most are immigrants or children of immigrants from former French colonies in North Africa...