The crosses in Bavaria’s authorities can remain hanging. On Tuesday, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed lawsuits against the controversial cross decree issued by Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). The regulation, which has been in force since 2018, states that a cross must hang in every state building in Bavaria.
The highest German administrative court in Leipzig has now rejected appeals against a previous decision by the Administrative Court (VGH) in Munich. The crosses did not violate the right to religious freedom of other ideological communities. The Federal Administrative Court decided that they were also not a violation of the fundamental right ban on discrimination based on faith.
The Association for Freedom of Thought had sued
The religiously critical “Association for Freedom of Thought” had sued. He demanded that the decree be repealed and the crosses removed. The federal government had already suffered a defeat before the VGH in the summer of last year.
Although the Administrative Court saw a violation of the state’s duty of neutrality, it classified the crosses essentially as passive symbols “without proselytizing and indoctrinating effects.”
The decree came into force in 2018
In April 2018, the Bavarian cabinet passed the cruise decree on the initiative of Söder, who had recently become Prime Minister at the time. Despite strong criticism – even from the churches, which accused Söder of misusing the Christian symbol for election campaign purposes – the decree 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.”
Not an inadmissible regulation for the Leipzig judges. Accordingly, they found that by hanging the crosses the Free State was not identifying itself with Christian beliefs.
Next step: Federal Constitutional Court
Söder praised the Federal Administrative Court’s ruling on Tuesday: “The cross is a sign of our Christian and cultural character. It belongs to Bavaria,” said the CSU boss of the German Press Agency in Munich.
The Association for Freedom of Thought does not want to give up even after the Leipzig verdict – and after the renewed defeat they want to go to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. Munich chairwoman Assunta Tammelleo emphasized: “It’s not over yet.”
With information from dpa