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They are free to present their religious doctrine as the only truth. The new comprehension of the criteria of the necessary authority seems also to be met by religious organizations, which deny a binding doctrine. One, the Gymnasium, is designed to prepare pupils for higher education and finishes with the final examination, Abitur, after grade 12 or 13. 165 Grzeszick, supra note 43, at 374375. 19; Kre, supra note 121, at 1415; Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 38; Grzeszick, supra note 43, at 370. Parents get to decide whether their children take part in religion classes, part of the school curriculum in Germany. The decisive point for the relevant authority is the necessary respect. German Unification Day on October 3 marks the reuniting of East and West Germany and is the only . Final federal crime statistics cite 1,799 anti-Semitic crimes during the In particular, the claim for Islamic religious education has grown stronger in the recent past as people practicing Islam make up the second largest group after Christian believers, and their numbers are expected to grow further.Footnote 46. There are no pages or files in this category. The prevailing view favors such a right.Footnote 52 According to this view, Article 7, paragraph 3 is seen as part of the section of the Constitution that guarantees fundamental rights. (3) Religious instruction shall form part of the regular curriculum in state schools, with the exception of non-denominational schools. 121 Hartmut Kre, Islamischer Religionsunterricht zwischen Grundsatzproblemen und neuen Rechtsunsicherheiten, 2010 Zeitschrift fr Rechtspolitik 14 (2010); Grzeszick, supra note 43, at 368; Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 37. On Wednesday, the principal sent Ralf an email saying Paul no longer needed to attend school during the two religion classes each week. Thus, the solution of the Federal Administrative Court represents a middle course between a mere recommendation and a binding rule. Religious education, as an aspect of education, raises crucial questions about the purpose of education in shaping individual identity, character, and conscientious beliefs,Footnote 1 and is one of the battlefields between religion and certain ideologies or political streams.Footnote 2 It implicates a range of constitutional rights, including the rights of children to education, the childs right to freedom of religion or belief, and rights of parents and legal guardians to ensure their child is educated in conformity with their own convictions. 149 WRV, in Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches para. Nonetheless, the legal effects of Article 7, paragraph 3 are not limited to an institutional guarantee. With Eric Krupke. This is because Islam has no teaching authority comparable to Christianity, see Ulrich Willems, Stiefkind Religionspolitik, 68 Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 9, 9 (2018). N Nondenominational Christian schools in Germany (1 P) Pages in category "Christian schools in Germany" The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total. The temporary introduction of the advisory body model is, as argued above,Footnote 183 in accordance with the Constitution, as long as it remains a temporary solution. However, the ADA contains an exemption for religious institutions, including religious schools. They are substantiated by state laws, as well as several church agreements and concordats.Footnote 39. During medieval times, the education system in Europe was solely organized by the Christian church, but it was focused on the training of clergy.Footnote 5 General educationsuch as the teaching of values, standards, vocational skills, and abilitieswas mainly done by ones own family and social class. 141 JeandHeur & Korioth, supra note 40, at para. How does the state respond to it? Paul* was in fourth grade when the problems began at school. Religious Education in Germany in Light of Religious religious society, advisory body (Beirat), Special Issue 7: Solidarity in Diversity: State Responses to Religious Diversity in Liberal and Non-Liberal Perspectives, outledge international handbook of religious education, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/index.html, https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/1999/02/lk19990217_1bvl002697.html, https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2002/10/fs20021031_1bvf000196.html, https://dejure.org/dienste/vernetzung/rechtsprechung?Gericht=BVerwG&Datum=23.02.2000&Aktenzeichen=6%20C%205%2E99, https://dejure.org/dienste/vernetzung/rechtsprechung?Text=19%20A%20997/02. In this regard, Hamburg has taken a pioneeringrole in offering interdenominational religious education, for which the Protestant church is responsible.Footnote 190, As the interdenominational approach cannot be established by the state without the consent of the religious societies themselves, scholars suggest as an alternative a nondenominational educational approach towards religion.Footnote 191 As shown, this would legally be possible in Germany even if it would be established as a compulsory subject in addition to the denominational religious education. 2, which states: Within the Communes, however, on the petition of parents and guardians, popular schools professing their own faith or philosophy of life shall be established, insofar as this does not interfere with an organized school system in the sense, also, of paragraph 1, supra. As a result of Article 7, paragraph 3s character as an institutional guarantee, non-denominational schoolsin other words, schools that have renounced a religious commitment and are strictly secular or ideologicalcannot be established as a rule.Footnote 69. Whereas 2017 the Higher Administrative Court of North-Rhine Westphalia construed the criteria of authorityestablished by the Federal Administrative Court in its ruling in 2005rather strictly and required that the local Mosque Associations or its members treat the statements of the umbrella association as actually binding,Footnote 155 the Federal Administrative Court made clear in its ruling in 2018Footnote 156 that this goes too far. Edited by Michael Benoist. 52 Mckl, supra note 48, at 521522; Robbers, supra note 36, at para. Nevertheless, religious education is not privileged in its rank and treatment compared to other subjects, but is secured in a specific way by the Constitution.Footnote 59, The doctrine of the religious society itself is taught. 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Germany Office of International Religious Freedom Download [347 KB] In this section / Executive Summary Legal Framework Government Practices Executive Summary The constitution prohibits religious discrimination and provides for freedom of faith and conscience and the practice of one's religion. The imparting of religious instruction and the performance of religious acts is left to the decision of the teacher, while the participation in religious lessons, acts, and ceremonies is a matter for the decision of those who have the right to determine the religious education of the child. 177 Grzeszick, supra note 43, at 377; Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 42. Germany Revise Test 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nazi policies towards the Catholic and Protestant Churches There were approximately 45 million Protestants and 22 million Catholic Christians in Germany in. 161 BVerwG, Case No. Hostname: page-component-5f76778869-6nlcg In Berlin, the consequence of Article 141 was that the government decided in 2006 to introduce compulsory non-denominational teaching about religionethicsinto the regular curriculum. 168 Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 40; Unruh, supra note 14, at para. 130 Beaucamp & Wimann, supra note 46, at 1521.; Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 38. 166 For detailed information about the composition of the advisory body, see Unruh, supra note 14, at para. Religious education was rather considered an exclusive concern of the religious societies. 54 JeandHeur & Korioth, supra note 40, at para. 1 BvF 1/96, 104 Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts [BVerfGE] 305310 (Oct. 31, 2002), https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2002/10/fs20021031_1bvf000196.html. 141, in Grundgesetz Kommentar para. 71 JeandHeur & Korioth, supra note 40, at para. 2 Juan G. Navarro Floria, Religious Education in Latin America, in The Routledge international handbook of religious education, supra note 1, at 197. Rath sent a further letter saying he would advise Paul's parents to take the case to court if the principal ignored the new deadline, which expired Wednesday. It is possible that local Mosque associations may fulfil the criteria of a religious society, but they are far too small to justify the introduction of Islamic religious education. GERMANY International Religious Freedom Report for 2021 pealed. Thereafter, the parents decision requires the childs approval between the ages of 12 and 14, and, finally, from the age of 14 onwards, children can decide on their own. 125 See with regard to Islamic Theological Faculties, Waldhoff, supra note 24, at 46 n.67; for an overview of alternative concepts of religious education existing currently in Germany, see Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 34. Thus, the state mustthrough appropriate colleges or universitiesensure that qualified personnel are available to teach religious education.Footnote 81 The state has to employ sufficient number of teachers and must pay their salaries and cover other costs of providing religious education, including providing books and other teaching materials.Footnote 82 Irrespective of their official position, those who teach religious education may attend school staff meetings with an equal right to vote on decisions taken during those meetings. See also Niestegge, supra note 141, at 153. As Bckenfrde put it in his famous dictum, [t]he liberal, secularized state lives on prerequisites which it cannot guarantee.Footnote 37 Religious education may help to establish these prerequisites.Footnote 38 In addition to Article 7, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the German Federal Constitution, most of the state constitutions contain corresponding guarantees. 461. 35 See generally Rex J. Ahdar & Ian Leigh, Religious Freedom in the Liberal State 243 (2015). Religious education in the German school curriculum has been a concern of the churches as well as of the governments of Germany since the Middle Ages. 6 B 94/18, at para. 123 Kre, supra note 121, at 1415; Grzeszick, supra note 43, at 371; Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 37. Instead of offering no religious education at all, non-denominational teaching about religion is offered. According to Article 7, paragraph 3 of the German Constitution,Footnote 3 religious education shall be part of the curriculum of public schools and, indeed, has been part of it for the last seventy years since the German Constitution came into existence. 461. Furthermore, religious education may also become a contested area in vindicating the proper constitutional arrangement between state and religion. 3 Grundgesetz [GG] [Basic Law] art. 191 Kre, supra note 121, at 17. German teacher fights schoolyard anti-Semitism, Court defers verdict on doctor sacked from Catholic clinic for remarrying, Current heat almost impossible without climate change: study, Situation under control in Corfu, dire in Rhodes: DW reports, Firefighters, locals battle Rhodes wildfires for 7th day. 159165. 26 Silvio Ferrari, Religious Education in the European Union, in The Routledge international handbook of religious education, supra note 1, at 101.; Durham, Jr., supra note 1, at 78. 133 See Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 32; Waldhoff, supra note 24, at 46 n.67. But Paul has had a tougher time than his sisters. 12 See id. The Federal Administrative Court has shown in its 2005 decision that, in principle, the recognition of an umbrella association as a religious society is possible. A religious society is an association which brings people of the same creed or several related creeds together in order to fulfil all tasks required by the creed in a comprehensive manner.Footnote 136 Therefore, three conditions have to be fulfilled by a religious organization in order to be regarded as a religious society: First, there needs to be a union of peoplepersonal base; second, the people have to share a creed or related creeds; and third, the association has to fulfil the tasks required by the creed in a comprehensive manner. Irreligion in Germany is more prevalent in the eastern regions than in the western parts of the country. Thus, the knowledge and information about several different religions is taught from an external point of view.Footnote 34, The incorporation of denominational religious education as part of the obligatory subjects at public schools in Germany is based on the belief that schoolsas the places where knowledge is imparted and values are taughtFootnote 35cannot ignore the religious dimension of human existence.Footnote 36 Furthermore, religiously determined moral education may function as a precondition for the existence of a free democratic constitution. The Concordat recognises four religious traditions in the historical region, which is now made up by three departments (Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle), including three branches of Christianity. 459. at 365. 77. This raises difficult issues in education: Some writers wonder how the state can instill values in the pupils without, at the same time, violating its obligation of neutrality in matters of religion and ideology.Footnote 111 To ensure that a course about religion is neutral and objective is a very delicate issue.Footnote 112 Even where good faith and great effort is present in attempting to ensure neutral teaching, problems may arise because some pupils or parents might have a different understanding of neutrality.Footnote 113 For instance, in relation to Norways Christian Knowledge and Religious Ethical Education course, both the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that the course was not sufficiently neutral and that the provided opt-out option was insufficient.Footnote 114, Another problem might be the close link that exists between moral philosophy and religious education. In addition to the decrease in the total number of religious people, Germany also experienced a religious diversification. 308. Without prejudice to the states right of supervision, religious instruction shall be given in accordance with the tenets of the religious community concerned. His parents had decided he would not receive religious instruction. But that wasn't the case at Paul's school. This is one of the three approaches of dealing with religious education existing today. LER was to be taught in a non-denominational way. German public schools were classed as ele- mentary {Volk) and higher {Hhere), ofwhich there were various kinds. A second problem is the representation of Muslim public figures. Footnote 54 Furthermore, they maintain that all the state can do is provide an institutional and organizational framework for religious education. It illustrates the existing so-called limping separation of church and state in Germany.Footnote 41 The relationship between state and churches, or religious societies, varies widelyas already alluded to aboveeven in liberal democracies.Footnote 42 Whereas France, for example, has a very strict separation of church and state, England and Sweden still have state churches.Footnote 43 Germany represents a middle course by having a cooperative relationship between the state and religious societies.Footnote 44 Each approach of regulating the relationship between the state and the religious societies may lead to different concepts of religious education, as seen above, and thus, of course, faces its own specific problems when it comes to religious diversification. 21 (Prussia). Irreligion - 35.4% . 73 JeandHeur & Korioth, supra note 40, at para. 3, which states: Religious instruction shall form part of the regular curriculum in state schools, with the exception of non-denominational schools. 189 See also Ungern-Sternberg, supra note 117, at 3637. iur., Chair of Public and Financial Law at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. As the number of Christians decreased and the number of Muslims increased, the demand for Islamic religious education at public schools grew. Research Fellow at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. 145 123 BVerwGE 49, at 5859. 45 For the statistical data here and below, see id. Diana got in contact with Rainer Ponitka. 179 See Niestegge, supra note 141, at 160161. On the other hand, the judiciary has tried to find a way of interpreting the term religious society in a way that is open to be fulfilled by religions that do not have such a strict internal organization as the Christian churches. ", But, Diana said,this isn't just about Paul:"It's about an injustice that's been happening for years. "coreDisableEcommerceForArticlePurchase": false, Old Saint Mary Catholic Parish, at 844 North Broadway in downtown Milwaukee, was founded in 1846 two years before Wisconsin even became a state. In these subjects, pupils are taught about general moral values, but also about different religions.Footnote 104 According to the decisions of the highest courts in Germany, the provision of such an obligatory, alternative subject is constitutional.Footnote 105 The school system is subject to governmental supervision according to Article 7, paragraph 1 of the German Constitution. According to Article 141 of the Constitution, Article 7, paragraph 3 does not apply to a Land where on January 1, 1949, religious education was governed by a different legal regime. Read more:Bavaria's controversial cross rule goes into effect, "I have 10, 12 cases [like Paul's] each year, different cases, some which stretch over years," said Ponitka, who also leads the IBKA's working group on schools. With Alex Stern. The state is constitutionally banned from teaching religious education directly through its own agents due to its obligation of neutrality in religious and ideological matters.Footnote 55 It is left to the religious societies to decide whether they avail themselves of their right. Religion was a huge part of people's everyday life and culture. The prevailing view is that the religious society does not necessarily have to be organized as a corporation under public lawArticle 140 of the German Constitution in conjunction with Article 137, paragraph 5 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919.Footnote 85. 85 Christoph Link, Religionsunterricht, in II Handbuch des Staatskirchenrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 439, 500 (Joseph Listl & Dietrich Pirson eds., 1995); Robbers, supra note 36, at para.