Europe, Islam's New Front Line: France A controversial new law banning Islamic headscarves and other religious symbols in France's public schools has triggered an anguishing national debate: Can France integrate Europe's largest Muslim population and achieve its much-vaunted liberty, fraternity and equality? In the fourth part of a series on Muslims in Europe, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Europe, Islam's New Front Line: France

Europe, Islam's New Front Line: France

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A controversial new law banning Islamic headscarves and other religious symbols in France's public schools has triggered an anguishing national debate: Can France integrate Europe's largest Muslim population and achieve its much-vaunted liberty, fraternity and equality?

In the fourth part of a series on Muslims in Europe, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Rachid Benzine, a Moroccan-born scholar of Islam, says the French concept of secularism is unable to take cultural and religious diversity into account. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR hide caption

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Sylvia Poggioli, NPR