[SP EXCLUSIVE]

Chew on that and these other tasty morsels from recent weeks.

Today’s headlines: burqa bans, sin and salvation in the South, and Paul’s proof of life.

France to Muslim women: Show your faces … or else.
Wear the burqa as you walk along the Seine and you may just be handed a ticket. Or be asked to pay a fine. How about some jail time? Last week, France began hearings on whether to ban the wearing of the burqa in public. Earlier this summer, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the traditional Muslim garb was “not welcome” in France, telling lawmakers that, “the burqa is not a religious sign; it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement.” On the one hand, for a country who, like the United States, guarantees the freedom of religion in its constitution, this seems, well, somehow wrong. But I also know plenty of women, Muslim and not, who feel the same way Sarkozy does about the burqa—that it’s a sign of subservience, not reverence. And I would have to agree with them.