Is there any basis for wearing the veil?

In Christianity, the Scriptural basis for this practice in I Corinthians 11:1-16. The headship veiling is a symbol of God's complete order of authority.

Men and women are different in many ways but divinely created with equal value (Galatians 3:26-28). Due to the differences between man and woman, and as a result of mankind's fall into sin, God has established an order of authority. Thereby lifestyles are simplified and differences are complemented. This beautiful order of authority, commonly called "headship order," is stated in 1 Corinthians 11:3. "But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." In this scripture head may also be interpreted authority. Christ is the Head, or authority, of mankind. Even though He holds this lofty position, and shares in the Godhead, Jesus Christ submits to the authority of God, His Father (John 8:16; 14:28; Mark 13: 31-33)

Similarly, men and women hold equally important positions; but God asks women to be submissive to the authority of men. Married women are under the authority of their husbands. Single women are under the authority of their fathers or church leaders.

Why should women submit and the men provide leadership?

The answer is two-fold. First, woman was originally created to be a "help-meet" for man. (Genesis 2:20-23) She was created from Adam's rib to be his companion, in the loving embrace of his protection and leadership. Woman was created as "the glory of man"; "of the man" and "for the man" (1 Corinthians 11:7, 8, 9)

Secondly, when Eve yielded to temptation, and enticed Adam to sin as well, God pronounced curses on the serpent, the woman and the man. Each had to bear the consequences of their sin (Genesis 3:14-19). Man, thereafter, needed to work hard to provide food for himself and his family. Woman, thereafter, was to be subject to her husband and experience sorrow in childbearing (Genesis 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:9-15; Ephesians 5:23-24).

Does that allow men to be tyrants?

Of course these scriptures, addressing the headship order, do not mean that husbands and fathers are to be tyrants, or rule over their wives and daughters in a disrespectful manner. Balanced with other scriptures (Ephesians 5:21, 25, 28; 1 Peter 3:7), men are taught to provide loving, non-oppressive leadership in the way that God intended.

It has been said that headship is not "lordship," but is rather a shouldering of responsibility. When a man shoulders his responsibility, it enables the woman to find security and gives her opportunity to reach her greatest potential.

What did the Church Fathers and Reformers think about the veil?

All the Church Fathers and Reformers agreed on one point: the headcovering mentioned in 1Co 11:4,5,6,7,10,13 was a fabric to be worn on the head by the women in worship. There may be differences among the theologians as to the application of the headcovering, but they are all consistently in agreement that Paul's reference to women being covered in worship was to a fabric headcovering, not to the hair of a woman. Below are some witnesses cited concerning the headcoverning – and who all are famous men in Church history.  

According to Tom Shank’s, “Let Her Be veiled”, the catacombs, which were used by the early Christians to assemble for worship, have many paintings that reveal the uniform dress of women in worship. The paintings show the women covering her head and hair (not the face) with some type of cloth.

Clement of Alexandria understood the words of the Corinthians passage to refer to a veil of fabric and not a woman’s hair; he said: "Let the woman observe this, further. Let her be entirely covered, unless she happens to be at home. For that style of dress is grave, and protects from being gazed at. And she will never fall, who puts before her eyes modesty, and her shawl; nor will she invite another to fall into sin by uncovering her face. For this is the wish of the Word, since it is becoming for her to pray veiled." (The Instructor.)

Jerome (345-429 A.D.) said: "It is usual in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria for virgins and widows who have vowed themselves to God and have renounced the world and have trodden under foot its pleasures, to ask the mothers of their communities to cut their hair; not that afterwards they go about with heads uncovered in defiance of the apostles command."

St. Augustine, who lived in North Africa: “Every man praying or prophesying with veiled head shameth his head;' and, 'A man ought not to veil his head, for so much as he is the image and glory of God…Now if it is true of a man that he is not to veil his head, then the opposite is true of a woman, that she is to veil her head.”

In Europe, we know that Martin Luther’s wife, Katherine, wore a head covering. We also know John Knox (from Scotland), in his "The First Blast Of The Trumpet Against The Monstrous Regiment Of Women," (1505-1572) said: "First, I say, the woman in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man, not to rule and command him. As saint Paule doth reason in these wordes: 'Man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. And man was created for the cause of the woman, but the woman for the cause of man; and therfore oght the woman to have a power upon her head,' (that is, a coverture in signe of subjection)."

John Calvin, from France (1509-1564), a theologian of the Reformation, preached three sermons on I Corinthians 11:2-16 and said: "So if women are thus permitted to have their heads uncovered and to show their hair, they will eventually be allowed to expose their entire breasts, and they will come to make their exhibitions as if it were a tavern show; they will become so brazen that modesty and shame will be no more; in short they will forget the duty of nature. . . . So, when it is permissible for the women to uncover their heads, one will say, 'Well, what harm in uncovering the stomach  also?' And then after that one will plead [for] something else: 'Now if the women go bareheaded, why not also [bare] this and [bare] that?' Then the men, for their part, will break loose too. In short, there will be no decency left, unless people contain themselves and respect what is proper and fitting, so as not to go headlong overboard.”

R.C. Sproul, an American theologian from our time, said: “The apostle makes the point that the veil, as a symbol of authority, is inconsistent with the position of the man, but it is required for women, who are subordinate to men. If they appear in the public assemblies with their heads uncovered, then they are acting in such a way that challenges the authority of men because they have removed the symbol that they are under masculine authority.

It is obvious from this comparison between men having their heads uncovered and women having their heads covered, that the covering is not hair. For if the covering in this context were hair, verse 6 would make no sense in the context of this passage.”

For a long time, nobody disputed the headcovering—regardless of where they lived—Europe, Mid-East, North Africa, or the Far East.