well, i'm actually more or less on board with shutting down the religious schools, and would support that done here, too. i've long supported the abolition of the catholic school system in ontario, and would support a total ban on all religion in schools. i would agree that this is a big part of the problem; there needs to be a stronger focus on secularizing children, and helping them evolve past the faith of their parents. get to 'em when they're young.
again: i'm a socialist. we're like that. "religious liberty" is a conservative idea. on the left, we think that religion is organized ignorance and that smashing through it is a necessity to move forward, as a society. the question is what the best way to do it is, and most of us realize that you need to be careful, because if you're too tyrannical about it, it just backfires. but, leftists have never supported ideas about the rights of individuals to worship in freedom - that has always been a right-wing idea. what the left has always concerned itself with is what approach to eliminating religion is going to work - we want to succeed in destroying religion, once and for all. and, we're not just saying that. we really do.
one is not free to worship; religion is organized slavery. one emancipates themselves from religion. so, "religious freedom" is orwellian doublethink. religion and freedom simply cannot co-exist.
so, i can at least get behind the things he's doing in the schools, to an extent. i haven't seen the details.
but, there seems to be a common theme regarding the violence in france - it's not coming from kids that are raised in france (whatever their origin, or whatever the religion of their parents), but rather from very recent immigrants. the issue in austria was different, and maybe an outlier......and it will be impossible to eliminate all religious violence, as well. let's set our bounds here - freedom of thought means the right to be retarded. so, you're going to have idiots and you can't prevent it...
but, case after case in france shows that the problem is that the immigration policies are simply too lax. they seem to let anybody in. and, some of the people that get there seem to undergo extreme culture shocks, and lash out in violence.
despite attempts to suggest otherwise, none of these attacks seem to be organized. rather, they seem to reflect the extreme levels of alienation experienced by muslim immigrants into a society that broadly doesn't care much for it's values. and, that's actually not that hard of a problem to solve.
1) they need better screening. if you ask people certain things, you may be surprised - and appalled - by what they tell you. maybe it's time to stop assuming people have universal values and are fundamentally good and ask them what they think about specific things, instead. and, maybe it's ok to judge them for it, if you don't like it.
2) they need better integration. not just social systems (which are no doubt drastically underfunded in the neo-liberal period), but social workers. people to call new immigrants and ask them how they're doing. places for them to meet, and people to help them fit in and explain how things are different in france than they are in the places they come from.
3) they need exit strategies to help people leave if they decide that it's too much, they don't like it and they want to go home.
but, they cannot waver.
and, i will continue to stand with the french republic, even as i criticize them for reacting poorly. we must not let the mistakes of a foolish leader undo solidarity for the system that birthed the modern world. the french will get through this - and we must stand with them, not with the enemy.