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Essay competition on Sikh articles
of faith
WSN Network
NEW YORK: The
Sikh Coalition recently invited high school students from all over
the world to submit entries into their Diversity Essay Contest on
“The Role of Freedom of Religion in the context of Contemporary
Society.” Students were asked to take one of the following two sides
on the French Parliament’s ban on conspicuous “religious” articles
of faith from public schools:
If you favor the
ban: While engaging with issues faced by communities impacted by the
ban, please discuss how
France’s
conception of secularism (laïcité) can be used to shed light on the
ban.
If you oppose
the ban: What makes you oppose it? Please outline a strategy through
which the international community may be mobilized to force
France
to repeal the ban.
The first place
winner was Casey Friedman, from
Alameda, CA
whose essay can be viewed here. An excerpt from this winning essay:
“Although
Article 10 of the high-minded Declaration of the Rights of Man and
the Citizen states explicitly, “No one should be disturbed on
account of his opinions, even religious,” and although the
Constitution of the Fifth French Republic recognizes the Déclaration
as fundamental law (“La Déclaration”), France today finds itself
uncomfortably pulled in every possible direction by the forces of
religion, popular will, secularism, and natural right.”
20 August, 2008
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