Italian Court Orders Removal of Classroom Crucifix
Nov 3rd, 2003 • Posted in: NewsOFENA, Italy
A surprise ruling by a judge in Italy, who ordered a crucifix removed from a classroom, has created a major controversy in the country, drawing strong rebuke from religious leaders and politicians and leaving many upset and confused.
Declaring that “crucifixes show the state’s unequivocal will to place Catholicism at the center of the universe … in public schools, without the slightest regard for the role of other religions in human development,” a judge ordered the removal of the cross from an elementary school in the small Italian town of Ofena.
The case was brought by a local Muslim activist, Adel Smith, whose children attend the school and who expressed concern about equality of religion under the law. Smith told the AP, “I have no fight with the crucifix…. I have simply been granted a constitutional right that religious symbols should not be on display in the classroom where my children study.”
While Catholicism was dropped as the official religion of Italy in 1984, a 1920s law requiring schools to display the crucifix is still technically in effect.
The decision has sparked public outrage among the country’s religious leaders and elected officials. The New York Times reports that Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi responded to the ruling by stating, “The crucifix has always been considered not only a distinctive sign of a particular religious credo, but above all a symbol of the values that are at the base of our Italian identity.”
Labor minister Roberto Maroni told Reuters, “This is an outrageous decision that should be overturned as quickly as possible. It is unacceptable that one judge should cancel out millennia of history.”
Not everyone, however, was displeased with the judge’s decision. Armando Catalano, head of the education branch of Italy’s largest union, CGIL, told the Washington Post, “It’s a courageous, innovative, and modern decision that underlines the lay state. We have to confront the fact that schools have fundamentally changed.”
Similarly, the parent of a primary-school student in Rome told the BBC, “So why have a religious symbol from one religion in every class in every school? I think it should be removed.”
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