German Churches Criticize School Program 'Diversity of Sexual Relations'

January 10, 2014 · Alexander Sarkisyan, Alexander Sinitsky, Baptists, Germany, Sin, Europe, Catholics, Who's Who, Nikolay Kotyakov, Denunciations, Vestibule, Pentecostals, Events, Church

The Catholic and Lutheran churches of Germany have strongly criticized the plan of the authorities of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg to introduce the subject “Diversity of Sexual Relations” into the school curriculum. The said subject has already been approved by the coalition state government, consisting of members of the Green Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and is to appear in local school timetables in 2015. According to opponents of the new course, the innovation is aimed at the “pedagogical, moral and ideological re-education of students.” On Friday, regional church communities issued a joint statement warning against any “ideologization of education,” especially concerning the “sensitive sphere of sexual identity,” reports Associated Press. For its part, the state education ministry stated that in the discussion with the Church and other institutions on the formation of curricula, “the institutions of family and marriage were in no way called into question.” However, the ministry’s statement emphasizes the need to accept other forms of life. As AP notes, the federal government of Germany gave no comment on the matter.

Note that more than 61 thousand residents of the German state of Baden-Württemberg signed an online petition against the appearance in schools of lessons that would tell in more detail about homosexuality and that not all people fall under the standard scheme of “man and woman.” This was reported, as conveyed by InoPressa.ru, in a publication by the German newspaper Die Zeit. The head of the Greens in Baden-Württemberg, Oliver Hildenbrand, for his part, believes that schools must be made a place of diversity and approval. In the opponents’ petition, as the Greens note, “the level of trans- and homophobia is off the scale.” SPD education spokesman Stefan Fulst-Blei also stated that “the party stands for an open and tolerant society, while the online petition is imbued with a spirit of intolerance,” the outlet reports. The initiator of the petition, who turned out to be a teacher at a Realschule, faces criminal proceedings; his professional suitability as a teacher is being reviewed.

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