American Muslims have slammed a draft law in the north-western state of Oregon to ban teachers from wearing religious dress such as hijab at public school. “This legislation forces Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and others to choose between their faith and entering the teaching profession,” Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a press statement. The Oregon state legislature has passed a bill banning teachers from wearing religious dress at schools and will be signed by the Oregon governor into law. “No teacher in any public school shall wear any religious dress while engaged in the performance of duties as a teacher,” says the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act. The bill also says education officials and schools would not be breaking the law if they “prohibit a teacher from wearing religious dress while engaged in the performance of duties as a teacher.”
“Merely wearing a headscarf is not proselytising; it’s a statement of faith,” Hooper said. “Practicing one’s faith is a right guaranteed by the constitution.” Hooper questioned if the ban would affect a Muslim woman who did not normally wear a scarf but had to undergo chemotherapy and lost her hair. “Would she be put through an inquisition to determine if she was making a religious statement or not?” he said. The bill has already drawn fire from Sikhs.