Click photo to enlarge
A cameraman films a crucifix hanging from a wall of a
classroom used as a polling station during Italy's general
election, in Milan, Italy, in this AP file photo.
Europe's court of human rights has ruled the display
of crucifixes in Italian public schools violates religious and
education freedom under the continent's rights convention.
The ruling, which could force a Europe-wide review of the use
of religious symbols in government-run schools, rejected
arguments by Italy's government that the crucifix was a
national symbol of culture, history and identity, tolerance
and secularism.
A seven-judge panel sided with a complaint filed by Soile
Lautsi, a parent of two children, who claimed public schools
in her northern Italian town eight years ago refused to
remove the Roman Catholic symbols from classrooms.
The ruling awarded euro5000 in damages to Lautsi, which the
Italian government will pay her. The court, however, did not
order Italian authorities to remove the crucifixes and the
ruling can still be appealed to the European Court of Human
Rights' Grand Chamber of 17 judges.
Lautsi says the crucifix violates the secular principles the
public schools are supposed to uphold and the right to offer
her children a secular education. Crucifixes are very common
in Italian public schools.
"The presence of the crucifix ... could easily be interpreted
by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel
that they were being educated in a school environment bearing
the stamp of a given religion," the court said in a statement
on the case, adding the presence of such symbols could be
"disturbing for pupils who practised other religions or were
atheists."
The court added that secular, state-run schools must "observe
confessional neutrality in the context of public education,"
where attendance is compulsory.
It further rejected Italian legal arguments that the crucifix
was somehow a symbol that promoted pluralism.
Lautsi filed her case with the Strasbourg-based court in July
2006 after Italy's Constitutional Court dismissed her
complaint. Her efforts to rid public schools of religious
symbols in a country that is predominantly Roman Catholic has
not been welcomed.
In Rome, Nicola Lettieri, who represented Italy in the case,
said the government would appeal, according to the ANSA news
agency.
Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini protested the
decision, saying the crucifix is a "symbol of our tradition."
"In our country nobody wants to impose the Catholic religion,
let alone with a crucifix," Gelmini said.
But she added that "it is not by eliminating the traditions
of individual countries that a united Europe is built."
Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said he wanted
to see the ruling and the reasons behind it before
commenting.
