Madam - Surely Louis Hemmings and Anne Jennings (September 21st) are seriously amiss. Mr Hemmings wants to ban Muslim religious displays because Saudi Arabia bans Christian symbols. Saudi Arabia may be a theocratic state, but Ireland is a liberal democracy. Here, freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution. Why should we violate our core values to attain parity in backwardness and intolerance?
Ms Jennings, along with Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, September 16th), wants the burka to become unacceptable "culturally or legally" in Ireland. You may ban an article of dress on the grounds of banning religious displays, but surely the orange smock of the Hare Krishna sect, the Sikh turban and the Orthodox Jewish skullcap would soon follow, not to mention priestly collars and nuns' habits. Again, in a liberal democracy, this does not make sense.
By "liberal democracy" is meant the tradition of tolerance and pluralism that has existed in Europe since the days of the 17th-century religious wars and is now enshrined in law. Such a tradition is not unknown elsewhere in the world. Like most correspondents, I reject a multicultural society that labels everyone with an amorphous and ill-defined tag called "culture". But I think a true cosmopolitan society of all religions and cultures is possible within a liberal democracy, provided core tenets such as freedom of choice and protection of the person are enforced.
As Piaras Mac Einri pointed out (September 19th), this will not happen overnight, and it needs an atmosphere of respect and tolerance, unfortunately absent from some of your correspondents' letters. - Yours, etc,
TOBY JOYCE, Navan, Co Meath.
Madam, - The point that both Anne Jennings and Kevin Myers seem to have missed is that the women who wear the "disturbing" and "threatening" burka may not have made a free choice to do so.
Louis Hemmings surely realises that, unlike Ireland, Saudi Arabia is not a free society.
This is a free society and the wearing of a burka is not and should not be proscribed. - Yours, etc,
VINCENT GILSENAN, Swords, Co Dublin.
A chara, - I feel moved to express my utter admiration for Kevin Myers and his Irishman's Diary.
His last three, on the burka, US patriotism, and Idi Amin have been compelling reading from start to finish. It's just a pity he doesn't write every day. - Yours, etc,
DEREK HOPPER, Griffeen Glen Crescent, Lucan, Co Dublin.