Source: news.bbc.co.uk
STRASBOURG, GERMANY, November 6, 2009: In a case brought by an Italian mother who wanted to give her children a secular education, The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the use of crucifixes in Italian classrooms.
The Vatican said it was shocked by the ruling, calling it “wrong and myopic” to exclude the crucifix from education, and the ruling has sparked anger in the largely Catholic country. The Strasbourg court found that, “The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities… restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions.” It also restricted the “right of children to believe or not to believe”, the seven judges ruling on the case said.
Although a revised accord between the Vatican and the Italian government ended Catholicism’s position as the state religion in 1984, the crucifix law has never been repealed.