The controversial cross decree from Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) is becoming a case for the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. The regulation will be negotiated there next week (December 14th), according to which a cross must hang in every state building in Bavaria since 2018. This is evident from the preview of the dish. The religiously critical Association for Freedom of Mind (bfg) had sued against the regulation – and suffered a defeat at the Bavarian Administrative Court last summer. He also referred to the upcoming hearing on Wednesday.
In April 2018, the Bavarian cabinet passed the cross decree on the initiative of Söder, who had recently become Prime Minister at the time. Despite strong criticism – even from churches who accused it of misusing the Christian symbol for election campaign purposes – it came into force in June 2018. Since then, paragraph 28 of the rules of procedure for the authorities of the Free State states: “A cross must be clearly visible in the entrance area of every office building as an expression of Bavaria’s historical and cultural character.”
The Administrative Court in Munich saw the crosses as essentially passive symbols “without proselytizing and indoctrinating effects,” as it said in the reasons for the decision. The court ruled at the time that the cross could become a “symbolic expression of certain religious beliefs and a symbol of its missionary spread” “for the non-Christian or the atheist.” However: “A violation of the requirement of state neutrality, which amounts to a merely passive use of a religious symbol without any proselytizing or indoctrinating effect and does not entail any further disadvantages for other religious and ideological communities, does not violate their right to freedom of belief and belief nor on equal treatment.”
At that time, only the lawsuits of 25 individuals who had joined the Association for Freedom of Thought and its lawsuit were ultimately rejected. Because the Administrative Court allowed the religious-critical association to appeal to the Federal Administrative Court, the case is now going to the next instance there. “The bfg Munich not only sees the state’s neutrality requirement violated here, but also criticizes the preference given to the Christian religion over other religious and ideological communities,” the Association for Freedom of Thought justified its lawsuit on Wednesday.