German Muslim Minister for Integration Calls For Crucifix Ban
After the moves to ban burquas in some countries across the continent of Europe comes the backlash against the backlash. And does anything sound familiar about appointing a token Muslim female to head up a social cohesion drive? *cough* Baroness Warsi *cough*
The designated social minister in Lower Saxony – Germany’s first woman Muslim state minister – has called for crucifixes to be removed from state schools, saying they have as little place there as headscarves.
Christian symbols do not belong in state schools. School should be a neutral place,” said Aygül Özkan, who is a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and will be made Lower Saxony’s social minister next week.
Although it appears she wants to apply restrictions across the board…
She also stressed her support for the ban on headscarves in such schools – as well as accepting that church schools would be an exception from a crucifix ban.
This might technically allow sidestepping of any discrimination legislation but forgets (or deliberately sidesteps) the fundamental Christian nature of Western Europe. Putting a local culture and an alien culture on a level of legal and moral parity is perverse and misguided….or, as seems to be the case these days….par for the course.
The problem is simply this. The state runs schools (and badly).
It’ll be interesting to see if the Tories import of the Swedish non-state schools idea gets off the ground in the face of Union opposition.