BERLINERS VOTE tomorrow to decide on whether state schools should offer religious education as an alternative to the existing mandatory course in ethics.
The referendum is the climax of a campaign that neared a cultural battle, enlivened by last-minute court injunctions and colourful insults.
Sunday’s vote has been forced by the “Pro Reli” campaign, backed by the leading Christian churches, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democrats (CDU). They propose that students should be offered a religious instruction alternative to the existing ethics module introduced in secondary schools in 2006.
Education in Germany is left to the 16 federal states and Berlin is one of three states that has religious education only as an optional extra subject. The city-state government, a coalition of Social Democrats and the Left Party, is backing the “Pro Ethik” camp. They say a No vote tomorrow will preserve a status quo in keeping with the secular tradition of a city; about 60 per cent of Berliners claim no religious convictions.
“If parents manage to bring their children to ballet lessons, then they’ll no doubt manage through their religious convictions to go to religious lessons,” said Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit.
The “Pro Reli” camp has run a campaign fronted by well-known personalities including television host Günther Jauch. “Religious education in Berlin is being systematically pushed into the periphery and discriminated against in schools,” he said. The law can only be changed if a quarter of Berlin voters back the motion, and if the turnout tops 25 per cent.