Social Democrat: No Excuse for All Sorts of Behavior 

By Wolfgang Polzer
Special to ASSIST News ServiceBERLIN (ANS) – The German federal Minister of Justice, Brigitte Zypries, has called for limitations on religious freedom. “We should not place any behavior under the protection of this important basic right”, said the Social Democrat in a “Speech on Religious Policy” in Berlin, December 12.

The German federal Minister of Justice, Brigitte Zypries, has called for limitations on religious freedom. “We should not place any behavior under the protection of this important basic right”, said the Social Democrat in a “Speech on Religious Policy” in Berlin, December 12.Zypries has no religious affiliation and was the only member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet who did not use the affirmation “So help me God” when she was sworn in.

The 53-year-old politician is concerned that decisions taken by the German Supreme Court in matters of religion have resulted in “a kind of freedom for all sorts of behavior”. Even smoking cannabis could legally be regarded as a religious practice, said Zypries.

She believes that religious freedom should be defined more precisely. Otherwise more and more citizens would try to excuse themselves from adherence to the general laws with reference to their religious freedom. That could not be tolerated in the long run.

Zypries also challenged the churches’ role in religious instruction in schools. By no means could the churches claim a monopoly in teaching values, said the minister. Students could also learn something about religion in other subjects like Ethics, Law and Politics.

Only people who are informed about other religions could treat them with respect. That is why all students should be taught about all religions – irrespective of their own affiliation and certainly not from a confessional perspective, said Zypries.

In most of the 16 German federal states school curricula include religious instruction. The subject is taught at public schools in partnership with the churches separately for Catholics and Protestants. Roughly two thirds of the 82 million Germans are church members.