The veil or not the veil. This is the question just now. It's a discussion I really can't be bothered with other than to say this: I believe that religion has historically done more damage than good and on balance we would be better rid of it. At least leave it as a matter of private life and not something that should in any way be at the centre of society. This was the practical wisdom behind the idea of separating church and state.

As I see it the conflict at the international level currently is over absolutism. It is a similar fight to the ones that took place in the West in the 17th and 18th centuries. The French and American revolutions eschewed the divine right of kings in favour of republican values. Although Britain's brush with regicide was short-lived the effect was to diminish absolutism and force religious institutions to a less powerful place.

The principle supported by the philosophical texts of the time (John Locke et al) was that humans did not have absolute knowledge, only bits of the picture. That being the case it was better to have social, legal and political systems that allowed room for arguments from different perspectives. Conflict resolution would be by use of rhetoric within appropriate structures. Power would be limited by the processes of democracy.

I believe these movements which took so long to arrive at have done more for people than religion ever did. The democracies who accepted these principles would eventually evolve fairly peaceful societies and be less likely to attack each other than had previously been the case. The problem remains of the countries still steeped in the absolutism of the past who have so far failed to adopt such ideas. Those who cling to the fundamentalism of the old world still have these problems to solve and work their way through to the realisation that asserting absolute knowledge is a dangerous game.

The West has been foolish enough to get dragged back into such a fight with its occupation of Iraq. The apparent neo-fundamentalism of the Bush regime with the Brits in tow has fallen prey to the taunts of the absolutists, the leaders of both countries perhaps themselves being that way inclined. This has turned out to be a mistake and has solved nothing. Who knows how long a global solution to such problems could take. Certainly generations, before all the nations of the world and their leaders finally let go of archaic ideas about belief.

The first commandment of humanity has to be a commitment to humanity itself. Survival is hard enough without humans turning on each other. It is a pity it is a lesson still having to be learned over and over.

So, veil or no veil? As a sartorial choice, who cares? I certainly don't. But if it is a covert attempt to foster the values of fundamentalism then I am against it. Legislation to ban the veil would not be consistent with liberal traditions but to voice an opinion based on what I have argued here is perfectly sound.