February 28, 2000 - Islam is to be offered as an option in religious education in Berlin schools.
BERLIN (IPS) - This follows a landmark Federal court decision last week that the Islamic Federation, an umbrella organisation of 25 Turkish Muslim groups which has links to the fundamentalist Turkish Welfare Party, be allowed to teach the faith in the state-run sector.
The court decision brings to a close a legal battle that has raged since the early 1980s to allow Islam to be offered alongside Protestant, Catholic and 'secular' studies.
Over 32,000 or 7,5 percent of Berlin pupils are of Turkish Muslim extraction and the city is also home to a sizeable Muslim population from the former Yugoslavia.
This is the first time, in Germany, that an Islamic organisation has been given equal recognition with the Protestant and Catholic Churches to teach religion in schools.
In neighbouring Belgium and Austria, Islamic organisations are already recognised by the state as able to provide religious instruction in schools.
However, concern has been expressed over the decision to allow the Federation, to draw up the Islamic curriculum and provide the teachers.
But the Federal court also ruled that the fact that the Federation is under investigation by the German internal secret service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC) and suspected of being involved in extremist activities, did not play a role in the decision.
Recent reports by the OPC note that not all the Federation members consciously follow extremist Islamic goals. The OPC recently began surveillance of the group again after an interval of several years.
However while welcoming the decision to put Islam on par with Christian religion in schools, many Turks are unhappy.
Turkish newspapers published in Germany have led a campaign, since the ruling was announced on Feb 24, to keep Turkish muslims "away from the Federation's clutches".
Most active among them is the conservative Turkish newspaper Hurriyet which has a large circulation in Germany and which prints its European edition out of Berlin.
"The court has decided, but the confrontation has become worse," the European Edition of Hurriyet said in an editorial. It published the news of the decision under the headline "Judgement Shock".
Letters to various Turkish newspapers here range from anger to total incomprehension at the German decision.
"I really can't understand the Germans," ran a letter published in Hurriyet this weekend. "Everything that thinking Turks say is misunderstood. If we soon see an invasion of black veils, German- Turkish children brought up as
militants under the guise of religious teaching, and modern women harrassed on (German) streets then you (Germany) is to blame, and not us (Turks)."The Berlin state education authority had hitherto fought against the Federation being allowed to teach in schools, maintaining that it was a political rather than a religious body.
Some German politicians believe that offering Islam in schools will help integrate Berlin's over 26,000 Turkish children. They note that as long as schools are not seen to be sympathetic to Turkish cultural needs, the
Mosque-based organisations will be the only refuge for Turkish children.The Mosque-based groups have been particularly militant in pushing for special dispensations for Muslim children in state schools including the exemption of girls from sex education, swimming and sports.
The Turkish consulate in Berlin provides religious instruction to upto 1,500 children. According to the Berlin authorities. Some five per cent of Turkish children go to Quranic schools, usually after School.
Paradoxically the Churches have supported the introduction of Islamic teaching. "Islamic religious education should not be relegated to the back streets," noted Reinhard Stawinski, spokesperson for the Protestant church.
The move by the court could now pave the way for compulsory religious instruction in Berlin schools, where the state would have a say in the religious curriculum.
Compulsory religious instruction had been rejected in Berlin in part because it would have meant providing an alternative to the large Turkish minority that would be acceptable to them.
Allowing the teaching of Islam without compulsory religious instruction would allow the state to properly vet what is being taught.
Religious instruction is compulsory in German Schools except in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Bremen, where the Churches provide their own teachers and dictate the content of the voluntary religious lessons without
interference from the state.In these states Turkish children either take the secular option known as 'ethics' if it is offered or sit in the Protestant and Catholic classes without actually taking part.
The Berlin state education authority provides subsidies of around 50 million US Dollars a year to the churches and the Humanist Association which teaches secular studies.
The Islamic Federation will now qualify for similar subsidies and says it has upto 40 teachers of Islam. A number of schools in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg where Turks are a majority have been identified for a pilot project
although no date has been fixed for teaching to begin.The Islamic Federation believes it will have to set up a special training centre for religious schools and admits it may only be able to provide instruction in a few Berlin schools because of a lack of German-speaking religious
teachers.In devoutly Catholic Bavaria the Turkish government is responsible for the content of Islamic teaching and provides religious teachers, although most Turks opt for 'ethics' rather than religion. Elsewhere in Germany, Islam has
only been offered as part of the Turkish Studies curriculum taught by non-religious teachers.The Turkish Parents Union said they could not accept the lessons provided by the Federation because it was a politically motivated group.
According to the Union only some 20 per cent of Turkish children would be interested in the lessons. The Federation for its part says its religious instruction will be open to all.
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