There has been a dispute about the cross for years. Time and again, the symbol causes controversy, even though Christians see it as a sign of reconciliation, tolerance and love of one’s neighbour.
There is currently a dispute about this in Riehen, the second largest town in northern Switzerland with a proportion of foreigners of around 28 per cent. Switzerland’s largest cemetery is located at Hörnli in Riehen.
According to the administration of the central cemetery, more and more people of other faiths feel disturbed by crosses, Christian murals and even chapel names during funerals and ceremonies. The Catholic Church of Basel-Stadt is even showing itself to be compliant.
The spokesperson for the church council told the newspaper Basler Zeitung: “If there are people who consider Christian symbols disturbing in the process, it should be possible to cover them up or carry them out.”
The Protestant Reformed of Basel see things differently. Their church does not need any religious symbols. Nevertheless, the president thinks: “Those to whom these symbols are important should be able to experience and see them.
There is strong resistance to the displacement of Christian symbols. The SVP party Riehen is fighting to preserve the cemetery culture. In a petition, it calls on parliament and the government council to stop such plans.
The representatives of the Basel Catholics complain: “If the basic furnishings of a chapel are to be without Christian symbols, this is a worrying trend”.
In 2018, the newly elected Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder had a cross hung in his Munich state chancellery in one of his first official acts. Ten years earlier, when he was secretary-general of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Söder had made a mess of things with a single sentence: “Crucifixes belong in classrooms, not headscarves.