That's fair enough. As I said personally I'm agnostic about what headscarves mean because I haven't talked to enough headscarf wearers to understand their personal experience of the symbolism.

My point was only that it's a symbolic debate, and that there seemed to be some confusion about headscarves in general, which seemed tangential to that.

What the hijab is supposed to symbolize for a woman who chooses to wear it -- and this is only my understanding, I wish we had had lauramp around to comment -- is nothing more and nothing less than her personal relationship with God.

But what does that mean in practical terms?

Playing (Western) devil's advocate here, I associate  religions primarily with tribal statements, and not with metaphysics.

So what does 'relationship with God' really mean to the wearer?