EU states can ban religious symbols in public workplaces

The rest of the quote is: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Take from that what you will.

I also don't know that most people who identify as or are called left wing would call Marx their hero.

Take from that what you will.

The only things anyone with a brain can take from it is that religion is a cancer, masquerading as a source of strength and hope when it in fact supresses those qualities, leading to an alienated population.
- Opium is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions.
  
  The answer to this by you is: Ban opium!
  
  My answer would be: Fight oppression!
  
  The fight is not about drugs, it is about self-determination, dignity, freedom. It is the fight against capitalism. And today the search is on how to prevent the socialist society from turning into an autocracy.
  
  Children have questions, e.g.: Where is grandma now? Until we have a satisfactory answer to this, religion will exist. But in a free world it will no longer be addictive.
  
  And everyone can put on or take off whatever they want. We should start with this immediately.
  
  False dichotomy, you can do both, and in fact by doing both strengthen both positions.

An argument I've heard against it is that it's overly harmful against non-western religions, specifically Islam. A pretty common tenet in Islam is some kind of head covering for woman. Banning that is a pretty sweeping reform. Christianity and Catholicism don't have anything like that, and if you really wanted to wear a cross you could just hide a necklace under your shirt. And Judaism, most non -orthodox Jews don't wear a yamaka 24/7. So in the end (typical) white religions aren't affected while minorities are.

Personally for me I don't care about wearing a religious symbol as long as you're not pushing your agenda. I don't care if my boss has a Bible on his desk any more than if he had a copy of dragon Ball z.

I would vastly prefer if my boss had DBZ rather than a Bible. BDZ is just literature, the Bible is a symbol of indoctrination, I don't want my boss to be influenced by some made up nonsense
Nuns and priests would not be allowed to wear their religious clothes either, so I’m okay with that.

It is not the secular state's fault that one religion chooses to be more backwards than the others by requiring religious clothing from all women, and is thus more affected by a ban on religious symbols.

Adapt to modernity or get the fuck out
- And you expect that to be enforced?
  
  Given that in one German state it was mandatory by state law to have a cross in every public building, from a party that is very overt about banning hijabs, i strongly doubt that.
  
  The reality will be that this will target muslims everywhere and maxbe a few stry christians. But the vast majority of christian strongholds, like Germanys catholic south will simply not enforce it against christians.
  
  So, we should just accept backwards superstition and archaic societal ideals because Bavaria is made up of Christian reactionaries?
  
  Enforce it from Berlin then. Deploy personnel to monitor the application. If Bavaria tries to play favorites, big fines for each case.
  
  As a german I am tired of conservative obstructionism, especially when it’s Bavaria, the german state embodiment of selfish and short sighted backwardness.
  
  So, we should just accept backwards superstition and archaic societal ideals because Bavaria is made up of Christian reactionaries?
  
  Enforce it from Berlin then. Deploy personnel to monitor the application. If Bavaria tries to play favorites, big fines for each case.
  
  While i agree with your sentiment the reality is that christian fundamentalists (in appearance, in behaviour they are devilish unchristian) are still powerful in German politics and we see a resurgence in their popularity among the voters. The majority of the German people is happy with persecution of muslims and doesnt care about favoritism towards christians.
  
  So, we should just accept backwards superstition and archaic societal ideals
  
  No, we should fight that. With words. With arguments. And not by banning clothing.
  
  Clothing is just a symbol and the meaning changes all the time and from context to context. People who want to ban clothing are just in favor of putting pressure on other people, on forcing others to be like them. It’s despicable.
  
  I was a teenager with very long hair in the seventies. I loved my hair, it told the world that I was a free spirit. And it was a very powerful asshole-detector. Every now and then some backwarded adult would come up to tell me I would have been sent to concentration camp under Hitler. And it was quite obvious that they wished Hitler to come back and do so again. Just for me wearing long hair.
  
  I don’t think you believe, but I am convinced that there are quite a number of young Muslimas here in Berlin who chose to wear a headscarf to uni while their mother says "Please, don’t risk your career!"
  
  And they say: "Mother, this scarf tells them where I'm from. And if they keep me from having a career it’s not because of the scarf, it’s because they hate who I am."
  
  "All this pseudo-liberal, pseudo-tolerant, pseudo-feminist, pseudo-open-minded assholes, I would never detect them without that scarf! Now leave me alone, I’ve got a heritage to defend."
  
  You’re much closer to Söder than to a humanist.
  
  So you whipped up a whole fictitious little story in which I’m the evil reactionary based on me being anti theist? Okay then.
  
  And just for the record, you comment also illustrates perfectly the cognitive dissonance employed here. A muslim immigrant that is proud of their muslim heritage isn’t brave or admirable, it’s the same dumb shit as any german christian who would try to argue that.
  
  I don’t want people to feel free to be ultra conservative religious quran thumpers because we are so liberal and tolerant. I want them to be taught that this shit isn’t welcome here and if they want to be they have to leave it behind.

The right wing is pushing specifically for the banning of things like the hijab or other religious head coverings usually worn by women. They justify it by saying that these head coverings are a symbol of oppression against women, and have no place in a free society.

Thing is though, how free is a society if it feels it has to dictate what women can and can't wear?

That's the catch 22 isn't it.. "You're not free to dictate that women must wear a hijab, because we are dictating they can't wear one."

However, this is only legislating public workplaces not everywhere, so it's less dictatey than Islam.
- There have been plenty of efforts and attempts to ban hijabs completely, in different European countries at different times. The debate started probably around the time the first Islamicimmigrants came to Europe.

The problem is that you have to treat religion equally and for a lot of European countries that would mean pushing Christian symbols out of public offices as well. Most Nordic countries, Greece and Malta have crosses on their flags for example. Many countries like Germany have parties, which are explicitly Christian. The Bundeswehr uses the Iron Cross as a symbol, which is in direct heritage from a crusader order.

The problem for those countries is that baning Islamic symbols is very often just racist rethoric to hit Islam, rather then a proper separation of state and religion.

It would be religionist, not racist. Islam is followed by many different races. But I get where you're coming from. I'm all for getting rid of all the religious symbolism etc.
- I am interested, what exactly constitutes a "religious symbol" for you?
Most Nordic countries, Greece and Malta have crosses on their flags for example.

Those crosses don't carry any religious meaning, they're simple historical artifacts. It's akin to how I still say things like "oh my god" or "go to hell", despite being a militant atheist.
- Denmark, Iceland, Greece and Malta have some form of Christianity as their state religion. Norway only separated church from the state in 2017. Finland requires a change of the constitution to change the church law, which gives the local lutheran church special rights. Sweden is secular since 2000, but even today grants the local lutheran church special rights.

Because banning something so petty like a hijab is just a dick move which serves no purpose other than cause more tension, if any women is wearing something by her choice, who the fuck are we to judge? Isn’t that the whole point of tolerance and being left wing?

I would hardly put a hijab in the category of 'by her choice'...
- I agree that forcing them is a problem, but a lot of these women themselves complained to the authorities, so i doubt in this particular case they are being forced, and how does outright banning it help the issue? People are forced to work with poor wages, why not ban all jobs?
  
  It's only banning in the workplace, not an outright ban.
  
  There are plenty of Muslim females I have worked with who never wore a hijab in or outside of work, so if it's no issue for them, why should it be an issue for these women?
  
  How does it help the issue though, I have no idea.
  
  I think you are missing my point here or yourself are confused, wearing a hijab these days in a modern society is very likely a choice, if a muslim women choses not to, it’s her decision
  
  But banning it and calling it a religious symbol on top of that is a clear statement that they don’t support a personal harmless decision of an individual BECAUSE they follow a religion, and that in my opinion is just racism
  
  And even a slightly controversial take of mine is that we shouldn’t really ban religious symbols either as long as they are not harmful, why would any sane person care if they see a women with a hijab or a burka? Or a person wearing a cross? No one unless they just don’t like anyone whose beliefs or ideology or opinion don’t match with them. The only thing these kinds of laws will do is potentially radicalize more people
  
  The thing is we can’t bring all of humanity on an agreement on even a small issue, let alone something as complex as religion, however what we could do is try to set apart our differences and focus on the overall good for us. This law however is just a step in the opposite direction
  
  It’s only banning in the workplace, not an outright ban.
  
  Well, it’s a first step, isn’t it? The more Europeans don’t give a shit about freedom and democracy, the more we vote for rightwing extremists, the more we will be ready to put a crescent on the clothing of Muslims, don’t you think so.
  
  Who would fight for their freedom, you?
  
  so if it’s no issue for them, why should it be an issue for these women?
  
  Because women are individuals, even Muslim women, who would have thought.
  
  And we’re living in a culture that celebrates itself for protecting the freedom and the rights of the individuals.
  
  Sounds kind of crazy, doesn’t it?
- And who are you to tell what’s other people choices and what not. That’s unbelievably arrogant.
  
  Wearing jeans (or any other iconic piece of clothing) isn't your choice, it's just normal where you grew up. You just adapted to the culture you live in. You're just a conformist. Or a 'Spießer' as we say in German.
  
  And this probably isn't limited to dress codes. How about ideas, ideologies, worldviews different from yours?
  
  If Muslim women no longer wore headscarves because they weren't allowed to, how would you recognize the oppressed people you want to "liberate".
See, now I know you either just didn't read it or didn't understand. It applies to all religious symbols, not just a hijab. Can you argue it's unfair to non western religions like the above commenters? Yes and probably should. But what you said is wrong. They are not "banning something so petty like the hijab".
- "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread"
- They are.., no other religion really has something like this like one of the comments here said, ~~almost~~ all cases are about hijabs
  
  Also how tf is hijab a ‘religious symbol’ anyway? It’s just a piece of clothing which is no different than those caps you find in jackets or hoodies
  
  I see no point in doing something so stupid like this, why not ban cigarettes instead of discriminating for wearing a piece of clothing?
  
  Edit: kinda misunderstood your comment, you called them out for discriminating non western religions, sorry its 4AM and i am cranky AF

There's a rather considerable current of leftism that is libertarian. Over-regulation of what a person can do, especially with something as, well, personal as appearance, is at odds with left-libertarian values.

Left-authoritarianism is of course compatible with such regulations.

Almost like left ideologies are more complex than an just a yes or no, huh?

Wait until you notice they change over time as they evolve with society.