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Catholic University Rector in Ruzomberok Wants to Annul Crucifix Ban
Monday 23 November 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, November 23 (TASR) - Rector Tadeusz Zasepa of Catholic University in Ruzomberok (Zilina region) has sent an open letter to the European Court of Human Rights asking the judges to annul the verdict that forbids the displaying of crucifixes in Italian public schools, TASR has learned from university spokesman Vladimir Buzna on Monday.
"Honourable judges of the European Court of Human Rights, since your ruling has painfully hurt me and our believers, and has shown contempt for our right to religious freedom, the academic community of the Catholic University in Ruzomberok requests the annulling of your verdict," says the letter.
Zasepa claims he grieves to think of the European court as an institution that was hostile toward Christianity and absolutely intolerant. According to Zasepa, the mutual cultural model is not achieved on the basis of mathematical abstraction, but only by honouring tolerance, dialogue and respect for the development of individual cultures.
"Although the European Court of Human Rights is not a European institution, its verdict regarding the presence of the crucifix in Italian schools undermines and destroys our trust in different European institutions that hold great importance today and in the future," said Zasepa.
The European Court ruled on November 3 that displaying the crucifix in classrooms restricts parents from raising their children in accordance with their own religious beliefs and also restricts the right of students not to believe in God. The verdict was passed in reaction to a complaint from an Italian citizen with Finnish origins whose children attend an Italian public school.
Despite the ruling of the Italian Supreme Court in 2000 stating that the presence of the crucifix goes against the principles of Italy as a secular state, the school in question refused to remove the crucifix.
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