PARIS - Surprisingly, it takes about the same amount of time to fly from New York to Los Angeles as it does to fly from New York to Paris. I sometimes have to remind myself of this fact when I start to feel like I'm living in a different universe than the one I've lived in my whole life.It's been almost a month since I arrived in Paris to begin my studies abroad. I came to learn the language, live the culture and taste some fine French wine. I also came with much trepidation as an American and a Jew.

According to the American media, I had much to be scared about. Anti-American sentiments are as widespread as they have ever been as a result of rocky relations between France and the United States since the war in Iraq.

The American media also told me I had much to worry about as a Jew coming to live in a city with a large Muslim population and many recent incidents of anti-Semitism.

With these concerns in mind, my parents made me promise to leave behind all my religious symbols that could identify me as a Jew.
Although I resented my parents' request to hide my identity, I had to admit that maybe they had the right idea. Hiding one's uniqueness in order to fit in seems to be a very popular idea to the Parisians, as far as I can tell, and it is this very idea that has become one of the most debated issues in France today.

Today, the French parliament will vote on whether to ban the wearing of religious symbols in public schools. This idea of la laacit, or secularism, has gained momentum in France, where the fear of different cultures clashing is a scarier idea than the revocation of vital freedoms.

"Secularism is one of the great successes of the Republic. It is a crucial element of social peace and national cohesion. We cannot let it weaken,"
French President Jacques Chirac said in a recent address to his nation.
As a whole, French opinion seems rather polarized. While a large portion of society would like to see the bill pass, many critics of the bill remain intent on doing everything in their power to fight against it. French historian Ren Remond recently said in France's Le Monde newspaper, "The veil is a decoy which draws attention away from the main issue: France's capacity to integrate its new populations and the willingness of these populations to accept the law. We are in a twist about the problem of an ultra-minority."

Aside from the many demonstrations already held, leaders of many religious groups have used every opportunity to voice their disapproval. According to a Dec. 17 Washington Post article, Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith and director of the Paris Mosque, the country's main mosque, warned that a ban on head scarves in schools could lead to "a stigmatization of the Muslim community."

But passage of the bill seems all but assured. Chirac's party holds 364 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, and a bill needs only 288 votes to pass.

As an American, it is hard for me to understand how this issue could even be debated. I consider my freedom of expression to be one of the most important rights I am granted as a citizen . Yet here I am observing and trying to understand a culture on the brink of voting to deny its citizens this very right.

For example, In a recent survey by the SOFRES Institute, a French polling organization, 57 percent of the French interviewed thought that the wearing of a headscarf, kippah or large cross in a public place was "a threat to national cohesion" and 77 percent said they supported the principle of secularity.

Admittedly, I am rather closed-minded when it comes to anything intending to revoke personal liberties, but I have tried my hardest to learn why this right to freely express one's self seems so dispensable in France.

Over dinner a few nights ago, my host parents tried to explain their position in this whole debate. Surprisingly, they both agreed they would vote in favor of the bill, if they were in a position to vote. I did not expect to hear this, considering how supportive they are of freedom of expression. However, as they explained, with the state of society being as it is at this point in time, they feel it is best that freedom of expression is quelled in the name of safety. But, at the same time, they are scared of the precedent this bill will set. As my host father said (a loose translation), "First it is the schools, then the workplace and then the rest of society."

Although I will probably never agree that a ban on religious symbols in French society is acceptable, I am starting to understand why the issue was brought up in the first place. France is not America, and the idea of immigrants and diversity is scarier to them than bad cheese and spoiled wine.