“In my view, the ruling of the Monschau district court clearly reflects the poor situation of the educational landscape in North Rhine-Westphalia,” said Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, in Berlin yesterday regarding a recent court ruling in Monschau (Eifel).
“Where a court judges it to be a significant threat to the welfare of the child if pupils do not attend Catholic religious education and services, there are significant abuses that must be called serious.” The criticism was prompted by a court ruling on a dispute between non-denominational parents, in which it was decided that non-participation in Catholic religious education could pose a risk to the welfare of the child and thus followed the request of a male parent to oblige the two children to attend religious education and services against their own will and the will of their mother. Frieder Otto Wolf went on to say that the case should be “a clear warning signal for all people who consider a pluralistic and humanistically oriented society made up of enlightened and secular-minded people to be indispensable.” Wolf also said that the court should not be blamed for this decision in the first instance. “Rather, an education policy that challenges such absurd court rulings should be questioned in all clarity. It is very frightening that there are still schools in the Federal Republic of Germany where the absence of some pupils from Catholic religious education can actually lead to the pupils concerned being exposed to the risk of exclusion and considerable social disadvantage.” Background:
- Condemned to pray (taz)
- Children obliged to attend religious instruction (Spiegel Online)
