The political right’s dual move — claiming the mantle of Christianity but not its values — is a threat to Christianity as radical as it is indirect: It risks stripping the religion of its spirituality. In 2004 after protracted appeals in the Ludin case, which concerned the right of a Muslim teacher to wear a head scarf in school, the government of the German state of Baden-Württemberg enacted a law that banned teachers from displaying religious signs except for the “exhibition of Christian and Occidental educational and cultural values or traditions.” The same reasoning runs through the European Court of Human Rights decision authorizing the display of the crucifix in Italian schools on the grounds that it is a “historical and cultural symbol” more than the expression of any specific belief. But to defend a distinct cultural Christian identity is to secularize Christianity itself.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 16:01:50 +0000
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