Religion and race is murky. In theory they're not related but in practice they often are. I look at the people spouting hatred towards Muslims and often it looks like a PC form of racism.

But never mind that. She was applying to work in an A&F kids store, not Playboy. I think the question still comes down to the extent we should work to accommodate people who have dumb ideas we don't agree with.

Personally, I think freedom of individual expression is important. If that means putting restrictions on what corporations are allowed to ban then maybe that's OK. It's about getting the balance right.

Nice try - but nudism in butchers is actually illegal. It's not a comparable case at all, if you think about it. What we're talking about here is clothing that's perfectly legal, but which corporate policy disallows for their customers.

Aren't you just a bit concerned about giving unelected, unrepresentative people complete and arbitrary power to decide the dress codes of the the people they employ. And having to face the threat of unemployment if you don't like their dictates?

Come on, doesn't that worry you even a teeny bit? Or has all this talk of nasty, selfish Muslims (boo, hiss!) scrambled everyone's brains?

Come on, that's disingenuous. Imagine a rule that says all applicants have to be able to jump over a large barrel. And then claiming it doesn't discriminate against short people because you're applying it to everyone. Or a law against sleeping rough under bridges, and then claim that it doesn't discriminate against the poor because it applies equally to the rich.

What we're talking about here is an institutional barrier. A&F didn't intend to discriminate against Muslims, but every time you have a corporate dress code you run the risk of a clash with some group or other that insists on particular dress as a marker of group membership.

The real issue here is the right to wear badges that signify beliefs if they contravene dress codes. And more importantly, to what extent should we ensure that company dress codes allow people to wear badges that signify their beliefs.

You might think that Islamic clothing requirements are stupid, and you might puzzle over why anyone with Islamic beliefs would want to work at A&F. But at the end of the day that's your point of view, and other people think differently. It comes down to a question of balancing rights of individual freedom versus corporate rights.

Personally, I'm a little bit wary of championing the rights of corporations over individuals. OK it's Muslims now - and we don't like them so that's OK right? But who's next, eh?

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."

You've got to admit that Mr Corinthians has a point there.

Have you never read the tale of the golden goose? Killing these people would be greedy and short sighted. They leave them alive and wait for new golden teeth to grow in place of the old, thus ensuring a regular harvest.

A new analysis of why there are national differences in religiosity: http://bhascience.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-some-c...

"A particular regard for future generations"??? Don't they think they're all about to be swept up by god and taken into heaven? They don't give a monkeys about future generations - not the true believers, at least.