Germany: Freedom of conscience in public schools

International Journal of Constitutional Law

Volumn 3, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 94-106

  Gerstenberg, Oliver ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33746335659     PISSN: 14742640     EISSN: 14742659     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/icon/moi006     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Bundesverfassungsgericht (BverfGE), 2 BverfGE 1436/02 Judgment of Sept. 24 2003 ("teacher-head scarf" decision.)
2. Id. at para. 2 ff.
3. Id. at para. 11.
4. Grundqesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom 23 Mai 1949.
5. Eur. Conv. on H.R. Nov. 4, 1950 at Art. 9.
6. BverfGE 1087/91, May 16, 1995 (hereinafter Classroom-crucifix case.). English translation in Decisions of the Bundesverfassungsgericht - Federal Constitutional Court - Federal Republic of Germany (vol. 2, Pt. I) 631 (Nomos, Baden-Baden 1998).
7. Teacher-head scarf decision, supra note 1 at para. 43.
8. Id. at para. 42 f.
9. Id. at para. 72.
10. E.G. Kopftuch-Gesetz of the Land Baden-Württemberg (GVBI- Baden-Württemberg) April 1, 2003;
11. of the Land Berlin (VerfGH Berlin) July 20, 2004 Cf. also the recent decision of the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (BverwG) BverwG 2 C 45.03, Jun. 24, 2004 available at http://www.bverwg.de/enid/cz.html.
12. Teacher-head scarf decision, supra note 1 at para 75 ff.
13. Classroom-crucifix case, supra note 5 at 644.
14. Id. at p. 646 ff.
15. See generally Ernst-Wolfgang Boeckenfoerde, 'Kopftuchstreit' auf dem richtigen Weg? in 10 Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 723 ff (2001) (discussing sympathetically a decision by a lower administrative court that, contrary to the decision of the Bundesverfassungsgericht discussed herein, permits the teacher head scarf on substantive grounds of freedom of conscience).
16. See also Seyla Benhabib, Democratic Iterations: The Local, the National, The Global Ch. 5 (forthcoming 2004) (on file with author).
17. Teacher-head scarf decision, supra note 1 at para. 29 ff.
18. Id. at para. 43.
19. Id.
20. Id.
21. Id. at para. 45
22. Id. at para. 46
23. Id. at para. 49.
24. Id. at para. 78 ff.
25. Classroom-crucifix case, supra note 6 at 647.
26. For a related criticism, see Benhabib, supra note 14: "The right to freedom of conscience, despite all acknowledgment of the state's neutrality toward religious and other world-views, was [...] subordinated to the interests of the democratic people in maintaining their specific cultural identities and traditions. The Court failed to present a robust constitutional defense of pluralism."
27. See e.g. Karl-Hermann Kaestner's annotation to the teacher-head scarf decision, in 23 Juristenzeitung, 1178 f. (2003).
28. See Kaestner, supra note 25
29. see also Friedhelm Hufen, case annotation in 12 Juristische Schulung, 1220 ff. (2003). Both contain references to further literature in Germany.
30. Public Interview in Die Tagesschau from 24.09.2003, available at http://www.tagesschau.de/thema/ 0,1186,OID2359270_NAVSPM3~2764984_REF3,00.html.
31. Quoted in Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice. A Defense of Pluralism and Equality 199. (1983). Compare with Michael, Walzer, On Toleration 71 ff (1997).
32. John Rawls, Political Liberalism (1996).
33. For a related point see Joshua Cohen, Procedure and Substance in Deliberative Democracy in Democracy and Difference. Contesting the Boundaries of the Political 104 (Seyla Benhabib, ed., 1996).
34. This aspect is rigorously emphasized by Jürgen Habermas, Intolerance and discrimination, 1 INT'L J. CONST. L. (I·CON) 2-12 (2003).
35. Hilary Putnam, The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays 130 (2002) (quoting William James).
36. Draft Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, Art. II-10.