1 - 2004

Religious diversity in Germany

On tolerance and equal rights

An excerpt from an interview

with Margot Käßmann

tagesschau.de: How tolerant should a society such as ours, shaped by Christianity, be on this issue? To put it another way, how much should we be expected to adapt ourselves?

Margot Käßmann: To tolerate means to bear with one another - and that doesn't mean to be indifferent! I am in favour of our society standing up self-confidently for its traditions and culture which are shaped by Judaism and Christianity. There has been a hard struggle in Europe for the concept of freedom. To give it up in the name of a supposed tolerance, I consider a failure of nerve.

Anyone who lives in our country must affirm our constitution, which says that women and men have equal rights. A girl of Muslim faith who bravely points this out, and goes to school without a head scarf against the will of her parents, will certainly not feel encouraged by a teacher who is wearing one. If Ms. Ludin (the Afghan teacher who appealed to the Supreme Court) says she is ashamed of her hair, and that she might be able to stand in front of children and teach without a head scarf, but as soon as an adult comes in she must quickly put it on, this unfortunately demonstrates a climate of fear rather than a climate of freedom. And a climate of freedom, especially for girls and women, is what our state schools should provide.

From an interview with Bishop Dr. Margot Käßmann of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover on the "tagesschau" television news programme of the German ARD public broadcasting group, 24 Sep. 2003.