Access of Muslim Organizations to Religious Instruction in Public Schools: A Comment on the Decision of the Federal Administrative Court of 23 February 2005

Abstract

In the last years, several Muslim associations applied at the competent Ministries of Education of the German Federal States for the introduction of Islamic religious instruction in public schools. These applications raise a series of legal questions, in particular, whether the States are obliged to allow associations to teach their version of Islam in schools. Of particular concern is that this religious instruction may not have a religious purpose, but rather a political, or even militant or criminal, purpose. Further, there is the possibility that the associations may invite students to take part in a “holy war”, to call for racial hatred, or to proclaim that women were inferior human beings. The answer to these questions is laid down in Article 7 paragraph 3 of the German Basic Law which is a typical provision of the German Law on Church and State that is molded not by a strict separation or laicism as it is, for instance, in France but by a cooperation of the State and the religious communities.

Staat und Islam

“…"The state is obliged to bear the costs for religious instruction and to ensure the personal and factual prerequisites for its realization, whereas the religious communities […] determine the contents, [and] the substantial components of such […] instruction" (Zacharias 2005(Zacharias , p . According to Article 7, section 3 of the Basic Law: "Religious instruction shall form part of the regular curriculum in state schools, with the exception of non-denominational schools .…”

Educating for Citizenship? Re-Assessing the Role of Islamic Instruction in German Schools

“…The recognition problem resulting from different state models is that decisions "for" or "against" the models are often grounded in divergent legal precepts found in the Basic Law, for example, Article 4, individual religious freedom; Article 6, parental rights; Article 7, state obligations and ( penumbral) neutrality (Zacharias 2005). In June 1998, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that Article 7GG mandates a material educational obligation for the state, giving it "the authority to introduce new and supplementary instructional fields such as the discipline of Ethics, "taught in a neutral fashion devoid of a particular world view" (Schieder 2001, 168).…”

“…Old barriers, such as temporary work permits, lack of formal education or language skills were replaced by new ones linked to autochthonous feeder-institutions. Career choices for successor cohorts were limited not by birthplace but by “pre-selection” criteria, shielding natives from competition (Zentrum für Türkeistudien 2001).…”