Schools face ban on religious symbols

Religious symbols in classrooms could be banned across Europe if a human rights ruling is upheld on appeal today.

Religious symbols in classrooms could be banned across Europe if a human rights ruling is Religious symbols in classrooms could be banned across Europe if a human rights ruling is

The Italian government is trying to overturn a verdict that displaying crucifixes in state schools breaches religious freedoms enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights.

The decision by the European Court of Human Rights in 2009 was a victory for Soile Lautsi, a non-Catholic mother who complained that her children, aged 11 and 13, were exposed to crucifixes in classrooms at their school in northern Italy.

The Strasbourg judges agreed the presence of religious symbols violated the children’s “right to education” and their “right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”, safeguarded by the Human Rights Convention.

They rejected Italian government arguments that the crucifix was a national symbol of culture, history and identity, tolerance and secularism, saying the crucifix in the classroom was against the principle of secularism by which Ms Lautsi wished to raise her children.

The judgment said: “This could be encouraging for religious pupils, but also disturbing for pupils who practised other religions or were atheists.”

Italy was ordered to pay the mother £4,500 in damages but Rome decided to appeal to the court’s 17-judge Grand Chamber in a bid to overturn the verdict.

Today’s decision, if it upholds the original verdict, would only directly affect Italian schools where religious symbols are in all classrooms. But a breach of the Human Rights Convention identified in one of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states – including the 27 EU countries – would apply to all.

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