German church leaders question call to ban religious symbols

Published: 2004-01-08

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- German church leaders are cautioning against calls to ban religious symbols from public schools following a similar move in neighboring France. "Such a move would end with churches and chapels being blown up and erased from the city landscape," said Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne. "Christianity isn't a private affair -- it's the most public thing in the world. Twentieth-century history shows what tragic consequences threaten the world when God becomes a private matter," he said. The German states Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg have introduced legislation to ban Muslim veils, but not Christian or Jewish symbols, from state schools after accepting claims that the head scarf is used politically. German President Johannes Rau called for legislators to extend a proposed ban of Muslim veils to Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps.

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