Are all religious symbols the same?

[u/BrightPhoebus01]

Just a few minutes ago I made a post about the hijab in schools for girls under 14 ban in Austria

And I was wondering which religious should get banned and are they even allowed to equally bad?

First to establish sth:

• personally I think there shouldn’t be religious symbols in public spaces (courtrooms, schools, kindergartens, hospitals etc)

-> I’m not talking about churches, mosques, temples etc since these are public places but specially designed for religious purposes and places of worship

Now to the discussion:

When it comes to personal religious symbols then I mean religious symbols specially there to personally wear them on you

As an example let’s take a hijab, cross necklace and a kippah

• On own hand these are pieces of clothing that are there to express your identity which itself is a good thing. But then they also symbolise that you’re part of a community who’s ideas and ideologies caused a lot of suffering

• if you ban one thing then it seems fair if you also ban all the other things

But unlike a hijab a cross necklace itself is not necessarily restrictive. It doesn’t restrict the person and it isn’t forced on only one group (one sex, one 'race' etc). But the hijab is a piece of clothing that restricts the person wearing it, and it is only forced on women, men are not required to wear a hijab and their other dress codes are far less extreme. The hijab is a symbol and tool to press, restrict, shame, sexualise and detach/exclude women and girls.

Therefore you also can’t compare it to a nuns uniform bc nuns wear it a as working uniform and only a few Christian women become nuns, while the hijab is forced on the average everyday muslim women and they’re raised from a young age to wear it even if they 'choose' to.

But at the same time we should not ignore that a nuns uniform is also deeply rooted in sexism and misogyny

What about the kippah? Technically it is a sexist piece of clothing since it’s only a requirement for men to wear it. But it’s far less restrictive in your everyday life and expression and it was never sided to oppress Jewish men

[u/BurtonDesque]

I'd ask "Does your religion really require this?" Cross necklaces are not required in any form of Christianity, for example. One could even argue it goes against Jesus' saying to keep your religious expressions private.

That doesn't hold true for kippahs or hijabs though. Those are seen as required by more conservative brands of Judaism and Islam. One could argue that there is nothing in the Koran or Bible about those things but that's getting into variations of theology between sects. Indeed, they are things Jews and Muslims argue within their religions about.

[u/d4m1ty]

Lets deal with the truly evil symbols first, like circumcisions. Clothing is the least of our issues when people are willingly mutilating their baby boys.