| European court: No crucifixes in Italian schools | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 3 2009, 05:48 PM (175 Views) | |
| Toma | Nov 3 2009, 05:48 PM Post #1 |
Audio, video, disco.
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By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer Alessandra Rizzo, Associated Press Writer – 28 mins ago ROME – Europe's court of human rights said Tuesday the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools violates religious and education freedoms, prompting an angry reaction from the Catholic Church and government officials in Rome. The ruling could force a review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools across Europe. Saying the crucifix could be disturbing to non-Christian or atheist pupils, the court rejected arguments by Italy's government that it was a national symbol of culture, history, identity, tolerance and secularism. The Italian government immediately said it would appeal, with one minister saying the court should be ashamed and a conservative senator calling the ruling "absurd." Italian bishops said they were perplexed by the decision from the Strasbourg-based court. "The multiple significance of the crucifix, which is not just a religious symbol but a cultural sign, has been either ignored or overlooked," the Italian Bishop's Conference said in a statement. The court ordered the government to pay a euro5,000 ($7,390) fine to Soile Lautsi, the mother of two children who claimed public schools in her northern Italian town refused eight years ago to remove the Roman Catholic symbols from classrooms. The seven-judge panel, however, stopped short of ordering Italy to remove the crucifixes, which are common in Italian public schools. The ruling can still be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights' Grand Chamber of 17 judges, whose decisions are binding. Lautsi, who is of Finnish origins, had maintained that the crucifix violates the secular principles the public schools are supposed to uphold, and the right to offer her children a secular education. She filed her case with the European Court of Human Rights in July 2006, after Italy's Constitutional Court dismissed her complaint. Her efforts to rid public schools of religious symbols in a country that is predominantly Roman Catholic had not been welcomed. In its ruling, the court said the presence of the crucifix "could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion." It added that the presence of such symbols could be "disturbing for pupils who practiced other religions or were atheists." The court said secular, state-run schools must "observe confessional neutrality in the context of public education," where attendance is compulsory. Lautsi and her husband, Massimo Albertin, said they were satisfied. "We believe the ruling is a positive signal from Europe to Italy, which seems to increasingly lose its secularism," Albertin was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency from his home in Albano Terme. "The crucifix creates discrimination." Still, the government maintained the crucifix is a symbol of Italian and European history and tradition "In our country nobody wants to impose the Catholic religion, let alone with a crucifix," Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said. But she added that "it is not by eliminating the traditions of individual countries that a united Europe is built." Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said he wanted to see the ruling and the reasons behind it before commenting. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091103/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_religious_symbols |
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| Delilah | Nov 3 2009, 06:35 PM Post #2 |
High Priestess
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Anything to make a buck. |
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| RYOUTA | Nov 3 2009, 06:41 PM Post #3 |
R Y O U T A
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Good ruling! |
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| Caudium | Nov 3 2009, 06:41 PM Post #4 |
yur daddy
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How exactly does the sight of a cross "disturb" non-Catholic students? It's good to know that $7000.00 is the price necessary to heal the "trauma" from looking at a religious symbol. All those dickheads did was appeal to a higher God: Money. |
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| Delilah | Nov 3 2009, 06:44 PM Post #5 |
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High Priestess
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I agree Caud. Italy is predominately Christian anyway. How could a crucifix bother them so much? |
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| RYOUTA | Nov 3 2009, 06:48 PM Post #6 |
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R Y O U T A
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Looking at your avatar Caud causes me trauma! |
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| Crimson Guard | Nov 3 2009, 08:00 PM Post #7 |
Advanced Member
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Thats why the European Union is a socialist fraud, a foreign entity dictating laws to a sovereign nation. |
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| Toma | Nov 3 2009, 09:35 PM Post #8 |
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And yet, Muslims are allow to wear their hijabs in. |
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| Manu | Nov 4 2009, 10:43 AM Post #9 |
Med supremacy
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And the commie kikes laugh at your face toma while legislating the laws that make all of this possible. Yet you as all the rest of short sighted europeans focus on the muslims.Time to go back to the protocols for you Id say. |
| "Only truth can set man free. The day will come when man can be told openly about his real nature and destiny, and in that day, his spirit will respond and unfold his glory like a flower bud opening to the sun. In that day, he will accept that the change called "death" is but the port of departure to a greater sphere of activity. He will then understand what he really is and must become, to fulfill his destiny." | |
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| PortuguesePoster | Nov 4 2009, 11:31 AM Post #10 |
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Full Member
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A contoversy over crucifixes in public schools erupted in Portugal last year. Almost all of the complaints made against catholic religious symbols in public schools in Portugal have been made not by non-Catholic immigrants but by ethnic portuguese JEHOVAH´S WITNESSES who are really, really stubborn regarding their religious doctrines. Evangelical (protestant) churches are also against the Catholic "religion and morality" classes, generally taught by priests or catachists, which are a part of the curriculum in Portuguese public schools although non-Catholics may receive an exemption from these classes. |
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| Toma | Nov 4 2009, 05:50 PM Post #11 |
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I am all in favour of non religious societies, we should however apply the same rules to all people. |
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| Toiletman | Nov 4 2009, 09:03 PM Post #12 |
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Junior Member
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I wish they were any socialist. Anti-religiousness was atleast consequent in the soviet-socialist countries but it's not socialism in the EU, it's anti-traditionalism and self-hate. |
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| Caudium | Nov 15 2009, 02:14 AM Post #13 |
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yur daddy
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Hmmmm. Hold on a second, I've been thinking. If you can ban the crucifix as it is a religious symbol, what should we do with the flags of England which bears a cross (from the crucifix) of St. George? Should English flags or Union Jacks be allowed in school, etc. How about the Nordic cross in all of the Scandinavian flags? Should they be changed? because whether we like them or not, they are ultimately sourced in Christian traditions. |
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| mezmeralda | Nov 15 2009, 07:47 AM Post #14 |
Junior Member
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I was wondering the same thing. The woman who wanted to have the crucifixes banned was of Finnish origin. What was she thinking of? Edited by mezmeralda, Nov 15 2009, 07:49 AM.
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