Ilhan Omar’s hijab is a fine tribute to religious accommodation – Washington Examiner

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Out of love and respect for the teachings of her faith, and as an outward sign of solidarity with her co-believers, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wears a hijab — a headscarf worn by many observant Muslim women.

Out of a Western and American custom, and out of respect for the gravity of the “People’s House,” the House of Representatives has banned hats and head coverings on the floor for more than 170 years.

So how to resolve this conflict?

It’s an important question in our increasingly pluralistic culture. But it’s not a difficult one: Whenever possible, we ought to accommodate the deeply held beliefs of our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and fellow Americans — particularly their religious beliefs.

Accordingly, the House changed the rules to make it clear that its prohibition on head coverings “does not include religious headwear.” Omar now can speak, and vote, and debate on the floor of her House without needing to fear the rules, violate her understanding of modesty, or hide her faith. She shouldn’t have to choose between her religion and her job.

This accommodation is salutary, and we welcome it. It helps not only Muslim women who want to wear a hijab, but also potential Sikh and Jewish members. (None of the Jewish men currently in Congress have asked to wear yarmulkes on the floor, but now they can start if they want to.)

We hope Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her party extend this spirit of religious accommodation beyond her own workplace to the workplaces of others. She could start at Masterpiece Cakeshop. Jack Phillips should not be forced to choose between operating his business and following the precepts of his faith. Just as Omar shouldn’t be stripped of her hijab, violating the moral rules she takes from her religious belief, Phillips shouldn’t be coerced into participating in a ceremony that redefines what he holds to be a sacrament.

The government should accommodate Phillips just as the House accommodates Omar.

Similarly, Democratic lawmakers and executives on the federal and state level should accommodate religious employers who want to pay their employees in cash rather than in contraception, sterilizations, and morning-after pills.

Pelosi, in the past, has been less open to pluralism. When asked about the contraception mandate, she criticized religious employers seeking an accommodation and expressed a very narrow idea of the proper place for religious belief. “I do my religion on Sunday in church,” she said at a Capitol Hill press conference, “I don’t do it at this press conference.”

Ilhan Omar, clearly, doesn’t see her religion that way. If your religion is more than worship one day a week but is instead an entire worldview, complete with a conception of right and wrong, then you cannot help but “do” your religion seven days a week and everywhere you go — even in the House of Representatives.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/ilhan-omars-hijab-is-a-fine-tribute-to-religious-accommodation

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