There is, however, something that does not ring true in all this. Either we accept the premise that all women wearing burkinis are unable to think autonomously or this ban is as stupid as the old rules concerning bikinis.

Burkinis do not pose a security problem; they do not offend morals – any morals – or anyone’s persuasions. Why forbid them? Because it is considered clothing that excessively expresses religious beliefs, as some French mayors have said? Well then will we have to ban nuns from beaches unless they wear a bikini?

The issue of the burka raised by Angela Merkel is far more serious, and fear that the full veil is an obstacle to integration is well-founded. Such fear is not on its own probably enough to apply a total ban; should that be the case many other kinds of clothes would also have to be forbidden.

In some situations, however, burkas can be an obstacle to communication, which does not only consist of words but also facial expressions. Who would play poker with someone whose face was not visible? There are relationships, for example between students and teachers, in which frowning, making faces and smiles are far more effective than words.

At other times burkas pose security problems. In addition to issues linked to terrorism, who would feel at ease seeing a woman driving a car in a burka? In such cases, a lack of communication or elementary prudence are sufficiently important reasons for banning burkas even for women who wear them voluntarily.

Some will say that this does not address the heart of the issue, which is the position of women in Islam. But even if one were to address this in depth, which is more problematic that it seems, I do not believe that a liberal state can deal with this issue with bans instead of an educational process.

I find counter-productive and rather depressing the tendency to turn into an ideology the use of rights as far as Muslims and other religious minorities are concerned. When one is dealing with rules, a significant level of healthy pragmatism is indispensable. This leads one to come to the conclusion that there is no reason to forbid burkinis, while there are good reasons to ban the burka when it is an obstacle to communication or creates security problems.

Translation by Francesca Simmons