Well it looks like the European court is going to show those backwards Italians that they aren’t going to be displaying Crosses is going to be verboten!
In a decision that could force a review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools across Europe, the court ordered Italy to pay a euro5,000 ($7,390) fine to a mother in northern Italy who fought for eight years to have crucifixes removed from her children’s public school classrooms. The Italian government said it would appeal.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the crucifix was a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture and was a symbol of unity and welcoming for all of humanity — not one of exclusion.
He said a European court had no right intervening in such a profoundly Italian matter and said “it seems as if the court wanted to ignore the role of Christianity in forming Europe’s identity, which was and remains essential.”
Italians as you might guess are a tad displeased.
Italy’s education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country’s Roman Catholic religion and cultural identity.
Mariastella Gelmini, a member of the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, argued that “no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity,” said
Other ministers said they were appalled by the ruling, calling it “absurd,” “shameful” and “offensive.”
Italians being practical people are going to do the practical thing concerning the ruling; Ignore it:
Italy will ignore an “unreal” European court ruling that bans crucifixes from state-run schools as it appeals the decision, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.
“It’s not binding,” Berlusconi said of the ruling after a Cabinet meeting in Rome today. “Whatever the outcome of the appeal, there’s no obligatory force to the decision.”
It’s not like the European Union has an army to enforce the rule.
Meanwhile while the EU Human rights court is fighting against the Crucifix it doesn’t have much to say about a real Crucifixion about to happen:
You can’t display an image of the crucified Christ in Saudi Arabia, but if you are ghoulish enough to want to see a genuine crucifixion, then the Kingdom is planning to stage one soon.
Saudi’s Court of Cassation has confirmed that it will crucify 22-year-old kidnapper and rapist Muhammad Basheer al-Ramaly, though it won’t be following biblical precedent to the letter: he will be beheaded first, and his head will be stuck on a pole separately from his crucified torso.
This guy is a piece of work to say the least but it is interesting that the European Court of Human Rights is zealous concerning one but has no comment on the other.
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