Religious freedom is not an unlimited fundamental right and parental educational rights do not have absolute priority. In the view of the Humanist Association of Germany, these principles were confirmed on Wednesday by two rulings of the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.
“We welcome the court’s wise decisions, which have kept the children’s welfare in particular in mind,” said Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Federal Association, on Wednesday afternoon. In two rulings, the Federal Administrative Court had decided on the entitlement to an exemption from compulsory school attendance on religious grounds. In one case (BVerwG 6 C 25.12), a schoolgirl with Muslim parents had applied for an exemption from co-educational swimming lessons, as the joint swimming lessons for boys and girls were not compatible with Muslim dress codes. It was also stated that the sight of boys in swimming trunks and physical contact with them should be avoided. In the other ruling (BVerwG 6 C 12.12), parents of a seventh-grader from the religious community of Jehovah’s Witnesses took legal action against the refusal to exempt him from school lessons, as their faith forbids engaging in so-called “black magic”. In both cases, the Federal Administrative Court denied a claim to exemption from lessons. “Compulsory schooling also has the purpose of releasing children into the communal public space,” emphasized Frieder Otto Wolf. From a humanist perspective, exemptions from compulsory schooling based on religious arguments should therefore always take particular account of the welfare of the individual adolescent. “Parental educational rights are of course a valuable asset, but from our perspective, the religious beliefs of parents should hinder adolescents as little as possible in their ability to educate themselves, develop and prepare for reality.” The two rulings of the Federal Administrative Court do justice to these goals, Wolf concluded. “In view of the two decisions, we once again appeal to all parents to work against any educationally unjustifiable separation of children in our schools, also in order to counteract the further growth of parallel societies and the threat to a tolerant and enlightened coexistence of present and future generations.”
