eduardo89
03-18-2011, 04:11 PM
Vatican praises EU decision on crucifixes in class
VICTOR L. SIMPSON
Associated Press
March 18 2011
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110318/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_classroom_crucifixes
ROME – Crucifixes in public school classrooms do not violate a student's freedom of conscience, a European high court ruled Friday in a verdict welcomed by the Vatican in its campaign to remind the continent of its Christian roots.
The case was brought by a Finnish-born woman living in Italy who objected to the crucifixes in her children's classrooms, arguing they violated the secular principles public schools are supposed to uphold. The debate divided Europe's traditional Catholic and Orthodox countries and their more secular neighbors that observe a strict separation between church and state.
Initially, the Strasbourg, France-based European Court of Human Rights sided with the mother. Italy appealed, supported by more than a dozen countries including the late Pope John Paul II's predominantly Catholic Poland, and won.
Friday's reversal has implications in 47 countries, opening the way for Europeans who want religious symbols in classrooms to petition their governments to allow them.
It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect France, a traditionally Catholic country with a strictly secular state that does not allow crucifixes or other religious symbols in public schools, including the Muslim headscarf.
The court's Grand Chamber said Italy has done nothing wrong and it found no evidence the display of such a symbol on classroom walls "might have an influence on pupils."
"The popular sentiment in Europe has won today," said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
Good news in my opinion.
VICTOR L. SIMPSON
Associated Press
March 18 2011
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110318/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_classroom_crucifixes
ROME – Crucifixes in public school classrooms do not violate a student's freedom of conscience, a European high court ruled Friday in a verdict welcomed by the Vatican in its campaign to remind the continent of its Christian roots.
The case was brought by a Finnish-born woman living in Italy who objected to the crucifixes in her children's classrooms, arguing they violated the secular principles public schools are supposed to uphold. The debate divided Europe's traditional Catholic and Orthodox countries and their more secular neighbors that observe a strict separation between church and state.
Initially, the Strasbourg, France-based European Court of Human Rights sided with the mother. Italy appealed, supported by more than a dozen countries including the late Pope John Paul II's predominantly Catholic Poland, and won.
Friday's reversal has implications in 47 countries, opening the way for Europeans who want religious symbols in classrooms to petition their governments to allow them.
It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect France, a traditionally Catholic country with a strictly secular state that does not allow crucifixes or other religious symbols in public schools, including the Muslim headscarf.
The court's Grand Chamber said Italy has done nothing wrong and it found no evidence the display of such a symbol on classroom walls "might have an influence on pupils."
"The popular sentiment in Europe has won today," said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
Good news in my opinion.