Does Ms. Wente want an imam, rabbi, priest, or Hindu religious authoritarian telling her what to wear?
  Religions are undemocratic. Democracy must take precedence over religions. We need look no further than the 21st Century imposition of everyday religious conflicts on us to realize why governments and their corporate masters are shrinking democracy.  Religions are one of their major weapons in their successful war against the power of the people.
   Furthermore, the first democratic value of immigration is smooth integration of immigrants into mainstream communities, not the right to bring silly obsolete ancient customs from regressive nations into our difficult struggle for democracy.