Sample Letter

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Below is a sample letter that can be included in your correspondence to French Government Officials. If you right your own letter, email it to info@sikhcoalition.org. We will continue to post selected letters to this page

January __, 2004

(address)

Dear ( ):

I am writing to you to express my shock and discontent over the French government’s consideration to pass a law to ban all signs of religious affiliation in French public schools. As a Sikh, and a believer in the freedom of choice for all people, this idea is unacceptable to me as an individual and to my faith as a collective.

The Sikh people have always stood for the very principles which the French Republic claims to believe. Liberty, equality, and fraternity, are not mere words for a Sikh, they are a way of life. We believe that every person must have freedom of thought and expression. We believe all people are equal. The Sikh faith has developed with our founders, our Gurus, teaching us to eat together, pray together and survive together.

Your proposed ban is threatening the survival of the Sikh faith in France. No Sikh can take off his turban; it is a fundamental part of being a Sikh. Throughout history many Sikhs have given their lives for the turban and for the right of every faith to be practiced freely. The Sikh community has had a long and mutually beneficial history with France, supporting their efforts through both world wars, and being strong contributing members in French society for almost the last one hundred years. Yet the French officials making this recommendation did not consider the several thousand Sikhs in France.

The principle of a secular republic calls on a state to allow freedom of worship without endorsing a particular religion. A state-sponsored ban on religious articles in schools would subvert this principle by imposing the state’s view on what is and is not permissible religious expression. Such a ban would directly implicate the state in the regulation of religious practice in contravention of the principle of separation of church and state and France’s obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

It is my hope that you will reverse your endorsement of Bernard Stasi’s recommendation.

Sincerely,

(Name )