A German court on Tuesday, December 19th, dismissed a lawsuit against the Kreuzerlaß (Cross Decree) that requires the display of Christian crosses in public institutions throughout the predominantly Catholic state of Bavaria.
The decree, signed in 2018 by the Free State of Bavaria’s Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU), stipulates:
A cross must be clearly visible at the entrance area of every service building as an expression of the historical and cultural identity of Bavaria.
The ruling by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig comes after a lawsuit by the Association for Freedom of Thought Munich. The organization, which bills itself as an “ideological community based on the principles of the Enlightenment and humanism,” claimed that the decree infringed upon the right to religious freedom.
The court’s decision upheld a judgment from a lower state administrative court that ruled that the crosses a) do not violate the principle of religious and ideological neutrality since states are not required to completely forego religious references, and b) do not discriminate against anyone based on their faith.
The placement of the crosses “in the entrance areas of public buildings does not stand in the way of the state’s openness to other faiths and world views,” judges of the high court explained in their ruling.
“The crosses displayed do represent a central symbol of the Christian faith for the objective observer. However, they do not violate the plaintiffs’ own guarantee of freedom, which is covered by Article 4 (1) and (2) of the Basic Law,” the court went on to say.
In comments given to the German Press Agency (DPA) in Munich, Söder praised the court’s decision, saying: “The cross is a sign of our Christian and cultural character. It belongs to Bavaria.”
The CSU boss’s comments were echoed by Klaus Holetshek, the party’s parliamentary group leader in the Bavarian state parliament, who said:
Bavaria is a country of diversity, tolerance and, of course, freedom of religion, but Bavaria is also a country shaped by Christianity and it is right that the Free State expresses this with the cross.
We should say “yes to our values and yes to the Christian-Western nature of our country,” Holetshek added.
The appointed Archbishop of Bamberg, Bavaria, Herwig Gössl, also expressed his approval of the high court’s verdict. “The cross is a symbol of our Christian culture and stands for peace, freedom, and reconciliation. I am therefore happy when the sign of the cross—in nature, in living rooms, or even in official buildings—points to Christian values and reminds us of responsibility before God,” he said.
Despite the Leipzig court’s ruling, the chairwoman of the Association for Freedom of Thought, Assunta Tammelleo, remains determined to have the crosses removed. She says the organization plans on taking the case to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. “This is not the end,” Tammelleo insisted.