The French Senate - by a vote of 246-1 - passed legislation forbidding individuals from covering their faces in public last week. Although the law does not explicitly refer to Islam, it ostensibly targets the burqa and niqab - two forms of dress worn by Muslim women that cover both the face and the entire body. The law will take effect in six months, barring its rejection by the French Constitutional Council. Violation of the law would result in a fine or, in some instances, mandatory attendance of a course on what the French government calls "republican values."
According to French Justice Minister Mich