“Perplexed and annoyed”: this is how mgr. Luigi Padovese, president of the Turkish Bishops Conference (Cet), receives the decree with which yesterday the European Court for Human Rights defined the presence of a Crucifix in a classroom as a “violation of the parents’ right to raise their children according to their own beliefs”. “Removing crucifixes – the prelate says to SIR – is against culture. I wonder why they want to enforce a law that discriminates against the majority, considering the Crucifix is not just a religious symbol, but the sign of a culture. It is also by the sacrifice of those who offer up their lives for others that this European civilisation was built up. The crucifix is a symbol of the sharing of, sympathy with and care for other people’s sufferings. It seems clear to me they want to create emptiness”. But mgr. Padovese is disappointed by something else as well, that is, the presence of a Turkish judge in the Court. The bishop explains: “we are well aware that in Turkey the teaching of religion is compulsory. We, as Catholic Christians, as a non-recognised minority, have the obligation to make our children attend the class of Islamic religion. I wonder what kind of religious freedom and respect of identity may we speak of, if the Court has a member in whose country religious freedom is not fully respected”. “I say to those who drew up this verdict – the president of Cet goes on – that they should realise that European reality is much more complex and there are more serious problems that that of leaving or removing a crucifix. There are situations of religious minorities that are discriminated against. We still reason in an excessively Eurocentric way, giving those who claim the right to be a minority things that some minorities, like us, in other countries, can by no means claim as their right”.

© SIR - nov 4th, 2009