The ban on headscarves in the classroom, passed this spring in France, has sparked a global controversy surrounding the values of secularism, religious expression and tolerance, girls and women’s rights, and related issues. The law, which also forbids Jewish kippahs (skullcaps), large Christian crucifixes, and Sikh turbans, was met with protests in France, throughout the Muslim world, and beyond. Advocates of the ban argue that it is necessary to preserve the secularism that is a core element of French democracy, and to protect women and girls from a radicalized community that is pressuring them into religious conformity. Opponents counter that the ban prevents the free exercise of religion and limits the rights of women to dress as they choose. As protests proliferated around the world, at least one Muslim group in France circulated a letter threatening the French government, and a cassette audio tape with condemnations from prominent Muslim militant, Ayman Al Zawahiri, surfaced soon after. Yet, some of the most important complaints regarding the prohibition, which is set to take effect with the start of school this fall, are those voiced by teachers and school officials themselves. Some use words like “hypocritical,” “confusing,” and “unworkable” to describe the law and subsequent “clarifications” supplied by the government. The rule, they complain, bans religious clothing items like headscarves, while permitting very similar items, like bandanas, that arguably indicate not religion, but culture or custom. A statement to France’s Sikh community — that boys may wear turbans, provided they are “invisible” — has been interpreted to permit hair nets. Further negotiations are anticipated to clarify the law and its clarifications. Meanwhile, responses in the Muslim community are somewhat muddled, with some groups vowing to fight the ban, while others urge the faithful to adhere to it. Undaunted, France’s education minister, Francois Fillon, has reaffirmed that the ban will be rigorously enforced this September. “I will be watching over this personally,” he has said. “There will be no exceptions.”