Alabama Drivers License and Religion

[Eagle101]

The Alabama Legislative Council has "rejected new driver license rules that immigrants said were unfairly restrictive and scolded the Department of Public Safety for prohibiting people from wearing religious hair wraps in their license pictures".

First off I'm not against any person's religious beliefs. Each individual is free to worship who or what they want. As long as they don't infringe upon my right. The one thing most people forget is America was settled by europeans who practiced christian beliefs. Our laws are based on christian beliefs. Enough of that.

What I am peeved off about is our Legislative Council is so worried about immigrants and others not being able to wear a head wrap when they have their drivers license photo taken. Florida had a similiar situation recently when a woman wanted to keep her face cover for her photo due to religious reasons. They claim religious bias. We have children in our schools who are being told not to wear a cross where it can be seen. They have to place them under their clothing if they wear a cross on a chain around their neck. This Legislative Committee is so concerned with immigrants religious rights and could care less about the religious rights of its citizens. Something doesn't sound right to me.

This same committee also told the DPS to start issuing driver licenses to immigrants who do not have the proper documentation. The DPS developed rules to eliminate fraud and to keep those not legally in the country in obtaining a DL. Has this committee forgot about September 11, 2001 already?

[Rootsandwings]

Hello? They don't have to have proper documentation that they are here legally???? If they are not here legally, they have not right to a driver's license!! This just really peeves me.

I don't think they should be allowed to wear anything that covers their face in the driver's license picture. If they have a turban (sorry I don't know the appropriate name) or the wrap that covers their hair but not their face then I don't see a problem. A driver's license if a form of identification and the picture should show their full face - JMO.

[JustMe]

It is no wonder that we have so many legitimate problems in our society today that go unsolved. Our focus is constanly on items that should be non-issues. It is plain old common sense that someone cannot be identified by seeing a portion of forehead and their eyes. Religious conviction or not, driver's licenses are forms of identification. You, I, and every other citizen that would like to have a driver's license submit to the same rules and regulations. That is simply the bottom line. If you are not happy and feel as if you have to compromise your religious beliefs to conform with a reasonable requirement, perhaps it is time to leave. Why are we are wasting time and effort to placate people who resent everything our country asks them to do? It's like the old saying "having your cake and eating it, too." Enough is enough. Imagine what WOULD be accomplished if we COULD harness the time, energy, and resourses we have wasted on this ridiculous case and others like them.

I am sorry people, but I am tired. A politically correct nation is an understatement in terms. We are as free a society as the world knows. Even so, measures are kept in place so that it doesn't become a complete catastrophe. It is simply the trade-off. I have to believe that is certainly better here than anywhere else. For the most part, I think someone just has to step up and tell it like it is. There is no way that I know of to keep everyone happy. Someone is bound to be unhappy and you cannot cater to that person at the expense of the greater good. By the way, a driver's license is a privilege, not a right. If you don't agree with the way they are issued, take the bus.

[Rootsandwings]

Very well put, JustMe!!

[bran]

Now, they have to show the FULL FACE on ID cards. The problem is now that the DMV wants there to be no head wrap at all (as I understand it). The head wrap conceals hair, neck, etc. but not face. The immigrants don't mind showing their face, but feel like making them remove the entire headwrap is unreasonable. One immigrant on a NBC 13 report, that if they have to remove the rest of their head wrap, then some men need to remove their toupee! LOL! :)

[richard]

I agree with what has already been said, To obtain a drivers liscense and motor down our highways is indeed a privilege. There are certain rules that you have to abide by to obtain this privilege, if you choose not to play by the rules then you will not recieve a liscense, what is so difficult to understand about this.
The problem is these foreigners come here for our freedom and wealth but then they want to change certain rules or laws to suit them.
Look this is OUR country and it was founded based on christian beliefs, they knew where we stood before coming to this country(foreigners) but now lets change the rules right! Heck NO!
Don't like the way we run our country then "GO AWAY". I served in Viet Nam, saw friends blown away and for what so somebody from another country can come in here with a rag on there head and tell us how to adapt our laws to suit them, give me a break!
Again like it has already been stated, having a drivers liscense is a privilege and living in this country is a privilege, no one is forcing you to abide by our laws you are free to leave anytime you wish!

[JustMe]

I thought about the "toupee" angle, Bran. I guess that the point is that a wrap of any kind covers the structure of the head and neck area. With a toupee, you can still see defining features.
I still stand by my earlier post. We all have to things we would rather not do in order to live in this country.

Richard, you are absoulutely correct. You cannot come to this country and reap the benefits it offers and reject what you perceive to be the disadvantages. Life is about compromise, whether you like it or not.

[bran]

I just thought the immigrant had a good sense of humor about the whole issue, since she was talking about toupees.

:)

She was apparently making the best of an uncomfortable situation (uncovering her face) and I thought that was a good attitude to have.

[Bocephus]

If it is not one thing it's another.
B*tch B*itch B*itch!!!!!
Let them all go HOME!

[Buckblasta]

You cannot wear a hat in your drivers licence so why should you be able to wear a head wrap?I know they do not wear it in the shower!Some people can never be happy!!!!!

[Bocephus]

TRUER WORDS HAVE NEVER BEEN SPOKEN.

[Ranger]

wrap them up and ship them off. LOL

[dave]

They've officially changed the Driver's license policy so you can now wear a head wrap, or whatever your beliefs dictate. I'm not sure if you have to have any proof of beliefs or not. I plan to wear some sort of hat the next time I renew my license.

[stickman]

You think they'll renew my driver's license with me wearing a ski mask or a KKK hood? I wonder........

[demopolite]

Tee hee hee, Stickman...

I'm amazed that while various Native American tribes are barred from using peyote in religious ceremonies and Rastafarians are barred from using marijuana, which they use as part of religious exercises, the legislature is bending over backwards to protect the religious beliefs of SOME Muslims.

I say some because my freshman-year college roommate was a practicing Muslim. She wore blue-jeans and t-shirts most of the time, and the only head covering I ever saw her wear was a baseball cap.

Those Muslim women who are fighting to be able to wear head scarves in their DL pictures are members of more conservative sects.

Here is where I get a little peeved: Most of the conservative sects FORBID women from driving in the first place. They are picking and choosing which elements of their religion they want to be upheld, and tossing the ones that don't benefit them --- "I'll toss my religion's tenet that I, as a woman, cannot drive, but hell I've GOT to wear my head scarf because my religion requires it."

Another thing that bothers me is that Catholic nuns have been pushing to be allowed to wear their head-but-not-face covering habits for quite a few years now, for the same religious reasons that some Muslim women are now advocating. But no one paid any attention to the Catholic nuns plight, even though Catholics make up a large proportion of the U.S. population. Now that a small percentage of the already small Muslim population is pushing for the SAME THING, it becomes a government restraint on the free-exercise of religion.

Sorry, I had to vent. I'm going to have to give up chocolate starting tomorrow, and I'm VERY anxious about the next 40 days!!!

[nursescare]

I was told that people will NOT be required to show proof religion when getting a driver's license. They may be required to sign a form stating that they are "telling the truth" about their religion.

**We all know that no one would lie on an official document!***