The November 3rd ECHR ruling, made in response to a complaint by an Italian secularist campaigner, said that the display of crucifixes violated the religious rights of pupils. Posted on 11/17/2009 10:39:50 AM PST by NYer
ROME, November 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Poland's president, Lech Kaczynski and the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church have both hit out at a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) attempting to ban the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools. At the same time, a general revolt against the ruling in municipalities all over Italy has been started by public officials, who are now ordering the display of crucifixes in schools, and levelling fines for non-compliance.
The November 3rd ECHR ruling, made in response to a complaint by an Italian secularist campaigner, said that the display of crucifixes violated the religious rights of pupils.
During Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday in Warsaw, Poland's Kaczynski said that "nobody in Poland will accept the message that you can't hang crosses in schools."
"One shouldn't count on that. Perhaps elsewhere, but never in Poland," Kaczynski said.
The reaction from Poland has touched a national nerve in a country where crucifixes and other religious symbols were banned under the atheistic communist rule and are now a prominent symbol of national sovereignty.
Lech Walesa, the former president and leader of the Solidarity movement that eventually freed Poland from its Soviet-controlled communist dictatorship, challenged the court ruling in a TV interview Thursday, saying, "We must respect minorities but also protect the rights of the majority."
At the same time, Archbishop Ieronymos, the Archbishop of Athens and primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece has also spoken out, urging all Europeans to oppose the ruling, saying the court is ignoring the role of Christianity in forming Europe's identity. The Greek Church has intervened in the case in response to a Greek citizen whose son is studying in Italy, the BBC reports.
The reactions from Greece and Poland reflect the warning made recently by UK legal expert Neil Addison, who told LifeSiteNews.com that, because of the intricacies of European Union law, the Italian crucifix ruling is likely ultimately to affect all 27 member states.
Addison, an author and expert on anti-discrimination law, said that if the Italian government loses their appeal, the ruling could result in the enforced exclusion of all public displays of Christian symbols all over Europe. Addison specifically warned that in countries like Greece and Cyprus, the common display of icons in public places would be under threat.
In fact, since the November 3rd ruling was announced, a secularist activist group in Greece, the Greek Helsinki Monitor, has called for a similar ruling to be applied to that country. The group is urging trade unions to challenge the presence of religious symbols in Greek schools.
The BBC reports that the Orthodox Church plans to hold an emergency Holy Synod to hash out a plan to oppose the ruling.
Meanwhile, Italian papers are reporting a general revolt across the country against the Strasburg ruling. All schools in the League Monza in the Lombardy region, have been given seven days to ensure that crucifixes are displayed in every classroom. The mayor of Besana in Brianza, Vittorio Gatti, signed an order levelling a €150 fine for non-compliance.
Mayor Gatti said, "We will give principals time to adjust, but then the order will be respected."
In a statement published on the municipality's website, the mayor referred to the ECHR decision, saying, "We believe that the crucifix is a symbolic expression in Italy of the religious origin of such important civic values as tolerance, mutual respect, enhancement of the person, freedom, solidarity and rejection of any discrimination."
"I believe I have decided the right thing. I have always seen crucifixes in schools and I believe we should have respect for our traditions and defend them against those who do not even know what they're talking about," Gatti said.
The mayor of Priverno in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, signed an order which provides for the maintenance of crucifixes in classrooms of primary schools throughout the municipality. Mayor Umberto Macci, instructed the municipal police to check that crucifixes are in place, with non-compliance to be fined €500. Citing 1924 and 1927 regulations on school furniture, which provided for the display of crucifixes in schools, the mayor said they are "an expression of fundamental civic values and Italian cultural values."
The mayor of Ascoli Piceno in the in the Marche region near the central east coast, said the crucifix expresses "in a symbolic way, the origin of religious values of the republican constitution. I am referring to freedom, mutual respect, appreciation of the person, solidarity and the rejection of any discrimination."
Mayor Guido Castelli cited state laws that agreed the display of crucifixes in classrooms "does not seem open to criticism over the principle of secularism" of the Italian State.
Fabrizio Quattrocchi’s culture. He didn’t come out of nowhere. I have no idea what his religious beliefs were, but his courage was unquestionable.
The mayor of Priverno in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, signed an order which provides for the maintenance of crucifixes in classrooms of primary schools throughout the municipality.
If you don't stand up for what you believe in, they will steamroll you into the ground. Here is a famous statement attributed to the German anti-Nazi activist, Pastor Martin Niemöller.
In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
‘National Reich Church’ drawn up during the war by Rosenberg, an outspoken pagan...
excerpt:
“The National Church demands immediate cessation of the publishing and dissemination of the Bible in Germany...’”
“On the altars there must be nothing but ‘Mein Kampf’ (to the German nation and therefore to God the most sacred book) and to the left of the altar a sword.
“On the day of its foundation, the Christian Cross must be removed from all churches, cathedrals and chapels...and it must be superseded by the only unconquerable symbol, the swastika.”
If you don’t stand up for what you believe in, they will steamroll you into the ground...
these elitists just do not understand the normal general population.
When you tell a group they cannot do something which they hold dear to their hearts then they will do it even more.
Good for these mayors and I wish we had some like that .
What our cowards do not understand is that when they make a stand like this then more folks will respect them instead they take the PC way (which helps to kill people)
I’d put crosses everywhere. Put one at 12-oclock on every clock in the school.
don’t pay the fine
what are the EU clowns going to do
?,Come in and jail everyone, no course not nor are they going to jail anyone either.
Maybe the clowns who do not want crosses should look more to the mosques getting built with saudi money and are being used as recruitment places plus spreading their hate and bigotry
don’t pay the fine
what are the EU clowns going to do
?,Come in and jail everyone, no course not nor are they going to jail anyone either.
Maybe the clowns who do not want crosses should look more to the mosques getting built with saudi money and are being used as recruitment places plus spreading their hate and bigotry
You really think that the EU will be looking to punish Italy if they do not pay a fine for putting a cross up?
If so and they do, then it’s no wonder I left there and came here.
there would be crosses on walls, buildings, in shops. around my neck, earrings. on clothes etc.
You really think that the EU will be looking to punish Italy if they do not pay a fine for putting a cross up?
Isn’t the cross just a symbol of ancient Roman capital punishment?
if true what you say then no wonder I left
Uh-huh. Non Catholic students.
Now...who might those students be? Hmmm?
Jewish students? Nope. They generally don't have a problem with a crucifix.
Hindu students? Nah.
Bhuddist students? Uh-uh.
Shinto?
Mayans?
Aztecs?
Zoroastrians?
Venezuelan Beaver Cheesers?
We all know who this very sensitive minority is, don't we?
this is definitely true. happens on daily bases all over the EU countries. you either battle it out again in a european court room (this is still possible for italy), or you better agree, and if not “feel free to” hand over millions of euros to the EU till the day you finally agree to this decision.
but i´m glad to hear that you like it in your new country.
love and proud of it.
I will not stand idly by and see this great country go the same way as Europe.
One would think that the left would learn from mistakes but it seems they do not.
As for health care then I am shocked how those on the left keep saying how Govt health care is great, maybe they should go and live under it and then have a say about it.
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