First Muslim veil, now Christian cross: What can - or should - Britons wear?

Back to Britain for the latest development in what some see as an ongoing, perhaps worsening, clash of cultures, a confrontation of social and religious values that is playing out in an unmistakably political context:

Even as the debate rages on in the U.K. about former Foreign Secretary and current Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw's remarks questioning the practicality of Muslim women in Britain wearing the traditional, face-covering veil in all settings, now comes the news that airline employee Nadia Eweida was sent home on unpaid leave for wearing a Christian-cross necklace.

Eweida is a British Airways check-in agent at Heathrow, in London. BA rules regarding employees' uniforms allow a worker to wear jewelry, "including religious symbols - but it must be concealed underneath [his or her] uniform. However, the airline says that items such as turbans, hijabs [Muslim head scarves] and bangles can be worn 'as it is not practical for staff to conceal them beneath their uniforms.'" (Financial Times)

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