“Public recognition of International Humanist Day as a holiday for humanists would be an important step towards equality of our world view and equal rights for non-denominational people in our country”, emphasized Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, in Berlin on Wednesday evening. Previously, the Berlin Administrative Court had dismissed a mother’s complaint in which she wanted to have a note about an unexcused day of absence removed from her son’s school report. The day of absence had been noted after her application for her son to be excused from school for World Humanist Day on June 21, 2011 had been rejected. The court judged the note to be justified; in the opinion of the adjudicating chamber, there was no entitlement to amend the relevant regulation. “We advocate a pluralistic and culturally open society,” said Frieder Otto Wolf on the Administrative Court’s decision. “We therefore welcome the fact that members of religious communities have the right to be exempted from compulsory school attendance or their professional obligations on certain days so that they can take part in the festivals and days of remembrance that are important to their tradition.” Although he expressed regret about the course of the procedure so far, he was confident that with the right preparation, more favorable decisions would be made: “Equal treatment of non-denominational people will come.” With regard to the debates about public holidays in some federal states, he also emphasized that the question of a right to such an exemption should not be confused with the question of the extent to which public holidays still have the social support necessary for their cultural legitimacy. Frieder Otto Wolf emphasized that liberal attitudes are expressed in humanist thinking: “At this point, it is essential to differentiate between the shaping of general culture by the state and the state’s task of creating spaces for the shaping of culture by the diverse society that makes up our state. We believe that both are equally important.” He therefore argued that humanists should seek further allies in the development of a culture of public holidays and commemoration that corresponds to the ideological and religious diversity in the Federal Republic of Germany and the right to a self-determined way of life. It is also a separate task to develop a stronger and more sustainable practice in this area. “I hope that the decision of the administrative court in Berlin will not be the last word. After all, it is the right of people with denominational ties to have the opportunity to organize days that are important for their faith together. However, I see no good reason why members of our humanist world view, whether students or professionals, should have to give up this right as a matter of principle,” Wolf concluded. June 21 was proclaimed as a global humanist holiday (“World Humanist Day”) in 1986 by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and is celebrated annually. The IHEU is a global association of more than 110 humanist and secular organizations in over three dozen countries.
The Humanist Association of Germany is a member of the IHEU and supports the day as an international humanist holiday.
