Last week, Mr Justice Silber ruled that Aberdare Girls’ School in South Wales had been guilty of racial discrimination when it excluded Sarika Watkins-Singh for insisting on wearing a religious bracelet. It was a trivial case, which made you wonder about the dogmatism of both sides and the quality of their lawyers. The school could have given way – the bracelet was little more than a slim band. Watkins-Singh’s parents could have accepted that they had a duty to uphold the authority of the teachers. Still, for all the pettiness, Mr Justice Silber’s judgment was remarkable for his inability to recognise that a just society should treat people equally. He didn’t rule that all the girls at Aberdare had the right to wear bracelets, just Watkins-Singh, because she was its only Sikh pupil.

Nick Cohen: A cast-iron case for a secular society | Comment is free | The Observer.

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