Luma Simms is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center; her essays, articles, and book reviews have appeared in a variety of publications including National Affairs, Law and Liberty, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, First Things, Public Discourse, the Institute for Family Studies, and others.

Why Americans Shouldn't Normalize The Hijab

In an article on how political correctness has made Britain vulnerable to terrorist attacks from the inside, M. G. Oprea’s terrific analysis shows that given the demand for “absolute tolerance for all things Muslim,” Britain has placed itself in an impossible situation. Who will dare to open her mouth about anything suspicious when there’s a chance she may get accused of racism (or worse)? In this Orwellian world, good is bad and bad is good.

We Iraqi immigrants call it the abaya. Annahhariri and Modanisa have a chic modern line that contrasts the drab black sheet my Christian mother had to wear while on her first teaching assignment in a small Iraqi village. There’s of course also the hijab, the burqa, and other articles of clothing belonging to the Muslim religion.

One of the benefits of colonization in Iraq was the modernizing of cities like Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul. Slowly the hijab, abaya, and other religious dress were shed for modern fashions. At that time, in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, no law in Iraq enforced the dress, but in small villages societal pressures still existed. Those few decades were an anomaly. Before and after there have existed either strong societal pressures or mandatory covering laws depending on the Arab country.

Read the rest of the article at The Federalist.

Middle Eastern Christians Feel Betrayed By American Christians

A Response To Archbishop Victor Fernandez