To the Point

Banning Religious Symbols in Secular France

Secularism has been a bedrock principle of the French Republic since 1905, when the law separated the Catholic Church from the State. But now, the Muslim requirement of headscarves for women has raised the issue of religion in public schools. Today, President Jacques Chirac proposed a ban on Islamic headscarves, after a special commission warned that Islamic extremists are threatening to -destabilize the Republic.- Though Christian and Jewish symbols will also be banned, the real target is a Muslim community that-s now almost 10 percent of the population. In this age of immigration and multiculturism, Will France's banning symbols help resolve religious tensions or make them worse? We hear from journalists, Islamic leaders and political scientists in France, and an advocate of the separation of church and state in the US. Making News: Panel Advises Over-the-Counter Status for Morning-After Pill By a 23-to-4 vote, advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration have recommended overwhelmingly that Plan B be sold over the counter in pharmacies nationwide. Vicki Kemper, who is reporting the story for the Los Angeles Times, says the FDA commissioner will face considerable pressure from advocates and opponents of the morning-after birth-control pill in the continuing battle between science and politics. Reporter's Notebook: Brazilians Claim They Were the First Ones to Fly President Bush marked the 100th anniversary of Wilbur and Orville Wright's first flight in North Carolina, by saying that achievements in aviation and space flight demonstrate the virtues of the -American character.- But the Wright brothers may not have been the first who took to the air. Mauro Lins de Barros, an aeronautics engineer in Rio de Janeiro, says the story of Alberto Santos-Dumont offers an alternative version of aviation history.