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Religion Under Wraps?

Aired February 10, 2004 - 13:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, a stitch in time or a rip at the very fabric of society? By an overwhelming margin, lawmakers in France give their blessing to a ban on religious apparel in public schools. Muslim head scarves, Jewish yarmulkes, Christian crosses, all in the crosshairs of a government that says it's only trying to quell sectarian tensions. The ban is stirring up passions in France and beyond. We take the measure of controversy, that is, with CNN's Jim Bittermann. He's in Paris.
Jim, what do you know?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, in fact that ban pass through the national assembly today are ease, more than ease. In fact, some of the national assembly members were surprised at the large margin of victory, 494 votes in favor. Nearly 500 of the 577 members of the national assembly voting in favor of this ban. And kind of reflecting the viewpoint as expressed in public opinion polls, where nearly 70 percent of the French say they're in favor of the ban, that schools should be kept free from any kind of religious symbols, because I think the feeling, at least here is -- although it may not be the same elsewhere -- that religious symbols only breed problems in the schoolyard -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jim, sorry about that. Technical difficulty there. I heard what you said -- you still with me, Jim?

BITTERMANN: I'm with you. Do you hear me?

PHILLIPS: Yes, I hear you just fine. Correct me if I'm wrong, more than 4 million Muslims living in France. So is there even a Muslim represented in parliament? And what does this tell us about -- OK, go ahead.

BITTERMANN: Well, I was just going to say, this is one of the great ironies about today's vote, is that nearly 10 percent -- somewhere between 8 percent and 10 percent of the population here is Muslim, and there isn't a single member of the national assembly that's Muslim. And it reflects, I think, a little bit of the way that the those against this ban have been arguing, saying that -- it doesn't really address what is the core issue here, and that is whether or not Muslims are being integrated in France.

If you go out into the suburbs of some big cities, you'll find the unemployment rate, particularly among Muslim young people who are now -- they are now French citizens. They are sons and daughters of the immigrants that came here in the '60s. In fact, the unemployment rates are running as high as 50 percent in some cases. And so the argument is that they are not being integrated in society the way they should be. And of course that just makes it a very -- a dangerous situation in terms of recruiting for Muslim fundamentalist groups.

And one of the things the parliamentarians were trying to address with this law is the idea that some of these young ladies were being coerced into wearing head scarves either by their parents, peers, or in some cases, fundamentalist organizes, and they wanted to put a stop to that. Well, they, with this law, putting a stop to one small part of it, but the real underlying cause, the exclusion, at least the exclusion that some Muslims here feel, is the real problem, that perhaps the real danger down the line -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You mentioned about the development of the Muslim extremism. It is a story we'll follow. Jim Bittermann, very interesting, live from Paris, France. Thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 10, 2004 - 13:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, a stitch in time or a rip at the very fabric of society? By an overwhelming margin, lawmakers in France give their blessing to a ban on religious apparel in public schools. Muslim head scarves, Jewish yarmulkes, Christian crosses, all in the crosshairs of a government that says it's only trying to quell sectarian tensions. The ban is stirring up passions in France and beyond. We take the measure of controversy, that is, with CNN's Jim Bittermann. He's in Paris.
Jim, what do you know?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, in fact that ban pass through the national assembly today are ease, more than ease. In fact, some of the national assembly members were surprised at the large margin of victory, 494 votes in favor. Nearly 500 of the 577 members of the national assembly voting in favor of this ban. And kind of reflecting the viewpoint as expressed in public opinion polls, where nearly 70 percent of the French say they're in favor of the ban, that schools should be kept free from any kind of religious symbols, because I think the feeling, at least here is -- although it may not be the same elsewhere -- that religious symbols only breed problems in the schoolyard -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jim, sorry about that. Technical difficulty there. I heard what you said -- you still with me, Jim?

BITTERMANN: I'm with you. Do you hear me?

PHILLIPS: Yes, I hear you just fine. Correct me if I'm wrong, more than 4 million Muslims living in France. So is there even a Muslim represented in parliament? And what does this tell us about -- OK, go ahead.

BITTERMANN: Well, I was just going to say, this is one of the great ironies about today's vote, is that nearly 10 percent -- somewhere between 8 percent and 10 percent of the population here is Muslim, and there isn't a single member of the national assembly that's Muslim. And it reflects, I think, a little bit of the way that the those against this ban have been arguing, saying that -- it doesn't really address what is the core issue here, and that is whether or not Muslims are being integrated in France.

If you go out into the suburbs of some big cities, you'll find the unemployment rate, particularly among Muslim young people who are now -- they are now French citizens. They are sons and daughters of the immigrants that came here in the '60s. In fact, the unemployment rates are running as high as 50 percent in some cases. And so the argument is that they are not being integrated in society the way they should be. And of course that just makes it a very -- a dangerous situation in terms of recruiting for Muslim fundamentalist groups.

And one of the things the parliamentarians were trying to address with this law is the idea that some of these young ladies were being coerced into wearing head scarves either by their parents, peers, or in some cases, fundamentalist organizes, and they wanted to put a stop to that. Well, they, with this law, putting a stop to one small part of it, but the real underlying cause, the exclusion, at least the exclusion that some Muslims here feel, is the real problem, that perhaps the real danger down the line -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You mentioned about the development of the Muslim extremism. It is a story we'll follow. Jim Bittermann, very interesting, live from Paris, France. Thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com