The Berlin “case”

“A vote with a regrettable outcome”, commented Mgr. Robert Zollitsch, President of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK), on the failure to reach a quorum in the referendum held in Berlin on Sunday 26 April on religious education (RE) in schools. The referendum, promoted by the Pro-Reli organization, was aimed at placing RE, currently optional, on the same level as the teaching of ethics, now a compulsory part of the school curriculum in Berlin. The President of the DBK however gave his assurance that the Church is committed to the provision of RE in schools and, in urging civil initiative, and cooperation between Christian Churches, Jewish community and Islamic associations, called for “a model of religious and ideological education that takes freedom of religion into greater consideration”.The Berlin “case” needs to be kept under close scrutiny. As is well known, a particular experiment as regards the teaching of religion at school is taking place in this city. Secular ethics as a compulsory subject was in fact introduced in classes of lower secondary schools in Berlin some years ago, while RE remains optional. The referendum was called to place religious education on the same level as the teaching of ethics, but it failed to reach the necessary quorum; the majority of voters expressed their wish to maintain the status quo.What happens in practice? In Berlin those who wish to receive religious education can choose to do so, but that means in practice that they have to spend an extra hour at school, whereas an hour of “secular ethics” is provided for all pupils as part of the normal curriculum. The Berlin rule does not hold good throughout Germany, where normally confessional religious education (Catholic, Protestant…) is provided in every school and complemented by an optional alternative in the form of courses of ethics or philosophy. But the Berlin rule seems even more out of step with an overall European scenario in which confessional RE remains the most favoured option, as testified by the recent survey of the Catholic Churches of Europe on RE: a wide-ranging “snapshot” of the situation which shows that the option for confessional education – with all the possible alternatives in the various countries – remains the norm in almost all the countries of the Old Continent.In some way Berlin turns the situation on its head. So it’s a unique “case”: a kind of “secular laboratory” that needs to be observed with close attention. It has been established in a great metropolis in which different identities and faiths interact, and in which history – and the opposition between ideologies – has been expressed in a quite special way. Different points of view are interwoven here. The first regards the theme of religion itself. In Europe the need to deepen the religious question is considered a value. Apart from the confessional reasons, there are authoritative voices – also within the Council of Europe, for example – that emphasize the importance of tackling religious themes at school for the integral development of pupils. Moreover, the learning of different religious traditions and their history, and comparison between them, is considered an important source of enrichment at the cultural and educational level, in relation to the understanding of different identities, opportunities for dialogue, and social inclusion. It is in this direction – more complex that “secular ethics” – that Europe is heading. The Berlin case raises the doubt that we risk losing our memory. It raises the doubt that a certain Europe, the Europe that grew up in a hurry in the last years of the last century, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and especially in an ideologically well-designed world, a Europe reassuring in its clear contrasts, and frequently at the mercy of consumerism and of the markets, of contemporary “liquidity”, is seeking a fresh start; and thus wishes to “cancel”, as it were, the significance of a past that requires an effort to recover roots and prospects for the future.The Berlin case says once again how essential reflection on education and schooling is in the Old Continent. For it is through education and schooling, and not least through our commitment to religious education, that a project for the future and a project of citizenship for our new Europe are built.