Are all religious symbols the same?

Just a few minutes ago I made a post about the hijab in schools for girls under 14 ban in Austria

And I was wondering which religious should get banned and are they even allowed to equally bad?

First to establish sth:

• personally I think there shouldn’t be religious symbols in public spaces (courtrooms, schools, kindergartens, hospitals etc)

-> I’m not talking about churches, mosques, temples etc since these are public places but specially designed for religious purposes and places of worship

Now to the discussion:

When it comes to personal religious symbols then I mean religious symbols specially there to personally wear them on you

As an example let’s take a hijab, cross necklace and a kippah

• On own hand these are pieces of clothing that are there to express your identity which itself is a good thing. But then they also symbolise that you’re part of a community who’s ideas and ideologies caused a lot of suffering

• if you ban one thing then it seems fair if you also ban all the other things

But unlike a hijab a cross necklace itself is not necessarily restrictive. It doesn’t restrict the person and it isn’t forced on only one group (one sex, one 'race' etc). But the hijab is a piece of clothing that restricts the person wearing it, and it is only forced on women, men are not required to wear a hijab and their other dress codes are far less extreme. The hijab is a symbol and tool to press, restrict, shame, sexualise and detach/exclude women and girls.

Therefore you also can’t compare it to a nuns uniform bc nuns wear it a as working uniform and only a few Christian women become nuns, while the hijab is forced on the average everyday muslim women and they’re raised from a young age to wear it even if they 'choose' to.

But at the same time we should not ignore that a nuns uniform is also deeply rooted in sexism and misogyny

What about the kippah? Technically it is a sexist piece of clothing since it’s only a requirement for men to wear it. But it’s far less restrictive in your everyday life and expression and it was never sided to oppress Jewish men

Posted Sep 10, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

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