HVD reminds Volker Beck: Courthouses are not temples

“Religious symbols in courts, authorities and similar institutions clearly contradict the requirement for state neutrality,” emphasized Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, in Berlin on Friday. Anyone who believes that the court proceedings surrounding the right-wing extremist terror cell “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) are not a place to clarify questions of cultural or religious identity need not complain about social grievances elsewhere, Wolf continued, referring to statements made by Green politician Volker Beck. The occasion was the debate about a crucifix hanging in the hall where the trial of the remaining members of the far-right group began on Monday. A Turkish member of parliament described the crucifix as a “threat” and demanded its removal. The demand was rejected by politicians from the CDU/CSU and other church representatives, as well as the chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, and Green politician Volker Beck. Volker Beck said that the process was “not the place to clarify questions of cultural or religious identity”. The reactions to the demand were just as unnecessary as the Turkish politician’s demand itself, said Beck. “Apparently he has completely lost sight of the bigger picture,” said Frieder Otto Wolf, former member of the European Parliament for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, commenting on Volker Beck’s statements. “The demand for the removal of religious signs is not only justified in this case in order to maintain trust in the neutrality of state authorities, it is also fundamentally and always correct in a democratic and ideologically neutral state. Courthouses are not temples.” Why Volker Beck believes that a crucifix in the courtroom would be acceptable in the internationally sensational NSU trial is “a complete mystery” to him. And the fact that Beck does not see the trial as a place to debate and clarify questions of cultural and religious identity raises doubts as to whether the Green politician has even understood what the ongoing social reappraisal is about: “Conflicts based on cultural and religious identities are at the heart of the horrifying events,” said Wolf. A corresponding debate, including about crucifixes in the courtroom, was not only “not unnecessary, but overdue.” Wolf finally expressed his hope that Volker Beck would remember in time what other positions the advocates of the prominent placement of religious symbols in courts, authorities, schools and ministries represent in everyday life – not only in the Federal Republic of Germany, but also worldwide.