wfn.org | German Churches Disagree on Headscarf Ban for Muslim Teachers

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

German Churches Disagree on Headscarf Ban for Muslim Teachers
Several Bundesldnder Draft Legislation against the Wearing of Headscarves at
Public Schools

HANOVER, Germany/GENEVA, 16 March 2004 (LWI) * There is increasing
disagreement within the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) concerning the
ban on the wearing of head scarves by Muslim teachers at public schools. 

EKD Council Chairperson Bishop Dr Wolfgang Huber, Bishops Dr Margot Kdssmann
(Hanover), Dr Johannes Friedrich (Bavaria), or Dr Gerhard Maier
(W|rttemberg), are among those favoring a ban on the wearing of headscarves.
They see the headscarf as an anti-democratic political symbol. The North
Elbian bishops, Maria Jepsen, (Hamburg), Bdrbel Wartenberg-Potter (L|beck);
and J|rgen Johannesdotter from Schaumburg-Lippe, have spoken out against a
headscarf ban for Muslim teachers. 

The EKD brings together 24 Lutheran, Reformed and United churches, with a
combined membership of around 26.5 million people. 

The headscarf issue flared up when Ms Fereshta Ludin, a teacher from
Afghanistan, filed a law suit arguing that the B|ndesland (state of the
German federation) of Baden-W|rttemberg had not employed her as a school
teacher, because she wanted to wear her headscarf in the classroom. At the
end of September 2003, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that Germany's
federal states would have to draft their own laws if they wanted to implement
a ban on the wearing of headscarves.

The January 22 speech by Johannes Rau, President of the Federal Republic of
Germany, in Wolfenb|ttel during the 275th birthday celebrations of author
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, triggered multiple reactions. Rau warned of the
dangers of not treating all religions equally, and emphatically opposed the
headscarf ban that several states hope to introduce. According to Rau, the
headscarf should not be viewed as a clear political symbol of Islamic
fundamentalism. He pointed out that "indeed, I am afraid that banning the
headscarf is the first step toward the creation of a secular state that bans
religious signs and symbols from public life. This is something I do not
want."

At the Saarland parliament, the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) and
Social Democratic Party (SPD) spoke out jointly in favor of a headscarf ban
at public schools. The governments of Baden-W|rttemberg, Bavaria and Lower
Saxony also want to modify their respective education acts. In Hesse the CDU
triggered a vigorous debate in parliament with its intention to generally bar
civil servants from wearing headscarves. If the law changes, the Berlin
senate plans to apply it to all wearing of religious symbols by government
employees. No legislative changes have yet been initiated in the other east
German states nor in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein or Rhineland-Palatinate.

Ban Advocates See a Political Symbol

In his speech broadcast on Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, January 31, Huber,
said he did not support Rau's stance against a headscarf ban. "Those in favor
of religious freedom do not necessarily have to agree with a Muslim teacher
being able to wear a headscarf. Furthermore, those who feel that teachers'
obligation to relinquish demonstrative actions should also include the
relinquishment of the headscarf are not necessarily banning religion from the
public arena," Huber said. 

Kdssmann, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, has expressed
her support for the headscarf ban, but she opposes calls to remove Christian
symbols from public buildings as a consequence of such a ban. She told the
Protestant news service (epd) in early January that the headscarf was not
simply a religious symbol but also a political one that also visibly
questioned the equality between men and women."

Friedrich, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria feels that
the headscarf is not compatible with the equality between men and women as
laid down in the German Constitution. 

German Constitution Stipulates Respect for the Image of a Human Being

Bishop Maier, Evangelical Church in W|rttemberg, and Dr Ulrich Fischer from
the Evangelical Church in Baden jointly pointed out that Ludin, not only had
to respect the concept of a human being, on which the constitution, which
includes equal rights between men and women is based, but also had to promote
this image as a public school teacher. They said that "wearing the headscarf
did not comply with this requirement. Moreover, there was a risk that the
verdict would exert increasing pressure on Muslim girls and women who did not
wish to wear the headscarf." 

Bishop Dr Friedrich Weber, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick, welcomed
the move by the Lower Saxony government to prohibit Muslim teachers from
wearing headscarves in schools. He said in mid-January that the headscarf
could be interpreted as a political symbol to suppress women. Banning
headscarves, he said, should not be seen as a sign of intolerance toward
Islam, but more as an attempt to fend off bad examples. What is necessary is
an intensive dialogue between Christianity and Islam to improve mutual
understanding of the respective cultural characteristics of each religion. 

The Roman Catholic bishops of Baden-W|rttemberg also called for a
headscarves' ban for Muslim teachers as did the Protestant churches there.
The headscarf could be understood as a "dubious political message" that is
incompatible with the constitutional equality between men and women, Freiburg
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch and Rottenburg-Stuttgart Bishop Gebhard F|rst
jointly stated in early February.

Headscarf Ban Does Not Distinguish between Fundamentalism and Religious
Identity

Nikolaus Schneider, head of the Evangelical Church of the Rhineland, backed
President Rau's stance. Schneider was quoted in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper
at the end of January, saying that he was against a simple headscarf ban
because it did not allow for any form of distinction between fundamentalism
and basic religious identity.

With their signature of the non-partisan appeal placed under the motto of
"religious diversity instead of forced emancipation," North Elbian
Evangelical Lutheran Church Bishops Maria Jepsen (Hamburg) and Bdrbel
Wartenberg-Potter (L|beck) spoke out against a headscarf ban in public
institutions. Wartenberg-Potter told epd that "respecting other people and
their culture" was a fundamental Christian principle. Furthermore, religious
freedom is laid down in the German constitution. 

Bishop J|rgen Johannesdotter, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe
also opposes the banning of headscarves. At the end of January he told epd
that "not every Muslim woman who wears a headscarf is automatically a
fundamentalist." The scarf should be viewed as a religious custom.

A Counterproductive Measure that Would Promote Secularism

In an interview with epd a few days before his inauguration February 29, the
head of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, Prdses Alfred Buss warned that
a headscarf ban could be counterproductive as it would help secularism to
gain influence. 

Hans-Joachim Meyer, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics
warned of the consequences a specifically headscarf-related ban would have on
the relationship between state and religion. Meyer told the German newspaper
Rheinische Post at the end of January that this type of ban could foster
secularism for "very diverse reasons" leading to a society in which religion
is an absolutely private matter. Germany should not follow the French
approach that bans all religious symbols from public places.

Regarding the headscarf debate, the general secretary of the Central Council
of Muslims in Germany, Axel Ayyub Kvhler, has warned of an increasingly
anti-Muslim atmosphere. Government would clearly overstep its limits with a
ban on headscarves and would disregard the obligation for tolerance. During a
panel discussion in Bonn, January 21, Kvhler said mutual respect between
religions with regard to different ways of living was necessary.

In France, the president of the Protestant Federation of France (FPF) Rev.
Jean-Arnold de Clermont reiterated his strong opposition to a draft law that
would forbid students from wearing "conspicuous" religious symbols at school.
Speaking at the federation's headquarters in Paris, de Clermont warned that
the law would "resolve nothing" and the "haste" in introducing the measure
"contradicted the desire expressed for dialogue and consultation," Clermont
was quoted saying by the Geneva-based Ecumenical News International. 

The FPF membership comprises most of the Protestant churches and associations
in France, including the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches
there * the Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine and
Evangelical Lutheran Church of France. The Malagasy Protestant Church in
France is an affiliate member of the federation. 

In a letter to President Jacques Chirac early February, LWF General Secretary
Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko had cautioned against the introduction of a law that
bans the wearing of conspicuous religious signs and dress at French public
schools. Further information is available on the LWF Web site:
http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/1388.EN.html 

(1,396 words)

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