Quote Originally Posted by denuseri View Post
Even if they (religion and culture) sometimes seem as if they are hopelessly tangled together, at least in so far as certain traditional practices are concerned...doesn't it make more sense to simply have no laws concerning what someone wears so long as it applies universally or regionally on some kind of decency scale and leave all the rest up to personal preference?...as opposed to making laws specifically designed to isolate and increase cultural tensions?

Removing religion isn't a feasible solution to this cultural issue imho.
These are the two problems that I see:

1) What you wear should be optional for everybody, regardless.
But in some countries you are forced to wear for instance the burka, in others you are forced not to. Some women have claimed that they Will wear the burka as a statement of identity, but they are, I think, very few. I think the main problem is in the states where you Have to wear it, as part of the general rule set for women.

2) There is a security and cultural problem with the burka, overlooking that does not help.
The security problem is obvious - there are situtations where you might be asked to lift it for identification, or where you cannot wear it, as in places with high security. The other problem is situations where people want to see the faces on the persons they are dealing with. If we are talking dentists or doctors or the like anyone can choose, but if we are talking police, official clerks, judges, teachers, hospital staff etc then you have a right to see people's faces - that is what I think.