As the 2024 Paris Olympics approach, a heated debate over religious symbols has erupted in France, pitting the country’s strict secularism against athletes’ religious freedoms. A recent report by Professor Rafael Valencia of the University of Seville warns that the French crackdown on religious expression could lead to a two-tiered system at the Olympics, with French athletes facing tougher restrictions than their international counterparts.
The issue came to a head last year when the French Senate voted to ban the wearing of any “apparent religious symbols” by athletes representing France (although apparently not specifically for the Olympics). , a decision that would ban Muslim women from wearing hijabs or Sikh men from wearing turbans. Although this law has not yet been finalized, the French government has made its position clear, with Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra stating that members of the French team “cannot express their opinions and religious beliefs” during the Olympic Games. Professor Valencia says this position contradicts the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement. As he writes, “the firm intention of (French) political voices on religious symbolism calls into question the foundations of modern Olympism” – values like respect, human dignity and commitment to human rights. ‘man. Valencia warns that if the French restrictions were implemented, it would create an unprecedented situation where “we would end up with an Olympic Games in which we could enjoy a two-tiered, broader religious freedom for non-French athletes, causing a comparative grievance of unheard-of precedents in a competition of these characteristics.”
Quoting directly from the report, Valencia criticizes France’s actions, saying the country is engaged in a “new attempt (in line with so many others recorded in France in recent years) to eradicate religion from the public space , transgressing the limits of secularism and hovering over the fields of secularism.” This would imply, as Maria José Valero says: “would lead to a distortion of the intended neutrality of the State, which would lead to a restrictive interpretation of the principle of secularism and, ultimately, to a restriction of rights such as religious freedom.” The Olympic movement has made great strides in recent years when it comes to religious expression, with the International Basketball Federation and FIFA both relaxing rules to allow the wearing of religious head coverings.
But France’s push to impose strict secularism threatens to upend that progress, potentially excluding Muslim, Sikh and other religious athletes from representing their countries at the Paris Games.
As the world prepares to converge on the French capital, the debate over religious symbols is gaining momentum. If France does not change course, the 2024 Olympics may be remembered more for the battles off the field than the triumphs on the field.
source link eu news
