"A Reevaluation of being secular" Christine Porcaro (11/13 substantive)

The subject of religion is very hard to discuss when talking about both state and international politics. While reading the article Negotiating Europe: the politics of religion and the prospects of Turkish accession by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd I was shocked that " the European Convention on Human Rights had not been violated by the Turkish refusal to allow Leyla Sahin, a Turkish medical student, to wear a headscarf while pursuing her studies at the University of Istanbul." As the article was arguing the European Union, if Turkey is ever to be allowed to be a part of the European Union, it must reevaluate what being secular is and how different cultures may approach this. "...successful negotiations will require that Europe both acknowledge alternative cultural and religious formulations and foundations of secularism and revisit its own collective assumptions.."I was shocked about this headscarf incident because it made be think of the ban of veils in French public schools (later mentioned in the article). I am not an expert in this field by any means, but before the elimination of veils, were crosses not allowed to be worn in the schools? If they were and are still allowed to wear crosses it is no longer a question of the secularization. It is just keeping Islam out of Europe. I understand this need for secularism but I agree with Hurd that there needs to be some serious evaluation of what being secular is and how it may be different for various cultures. With this reevaluation I hope that people will be able to wear a headscarf or veils if they so choose as people are allowed to wear crosses. With a greater understanding of secularism by Europe and Turkey, it might make negotiations for Turkey's integration into the European Union less controversial because Turkey's government and the way that it is run will not seem as "backwards" and non-secular. Standards and expectation need to be defined but also calibrated to different cultures as it can be easily seen, different cultures have different understandings of what it means to be secular. I do not know if it is a real possibility if Turkey is going to be a member of the European Union, but I do not feel that religion should stand in its way of being a part of it..