Its funny but I was considering this point the other day. I struggle with the ever growing population of veiled Muslim women in my university. I want to help them. I want to say what is in my heart to them but there is never the right opportunity. I feel I could write a book on why the veil is bad for women even when voluntarily assumed. I tried to console myself that at least they were willing to suffer for the sake of piety but quickly realized what a Trojan Horse of an argument that is. The veil represents a host of unwholesome and damaging ideas about women and their place in society particularly outside the home. In particular, it divides the world into girls who supposedly love God by wearing the veil and those who do not love God so much. I think that smart people are more than capable of working out the implications of such a division. What does it say then about girls who choose not to wear it? What does it say about a girl who changes her mind about wearing it? I won’t even go into the ostentation of the kind of in your face religion that the veil represents.

I believe there is boundless good reasons why Christ did not command us to wear certain items of clothing to mark ourselves out. He is against all ostentation in religion knowing well that most people are all too capable of mistaking the false piety of outward appearances for the real piety of the heart. (please note that I said most. I do not mean to include the priesthood or the religious who are a different case) He wanted to Christians to be known by our love not our clothing.

We have to be careful not to fall for the seduction of Islam and its ideas. We have to stand firm that the way of Christ is the only way.

If we are inspired by the presence of Muslims in our midst, it should not be in order to emulate them, but as a spur to us to ever greater effort to reach these people and pierce the lies that enslave them.