Tag Archives: Country: Germany

IrishCentral: An unaccountable European elite is ignoring the basic principles of democracy and betraying the founding vision of the EU.

Religion Clause: Germany’s Federal Administrative court yesterday ruled that while a student’s right to pray at school is constitutionally protected, a school may ban a student from praying when it disrupts the school’s operations.

News from The Associated Press: Germany will create a national database as a clearing-house for information on far-right extremists amid mounting criticism its security agencies failed to detect a neo-Nazi terror group for years.

Commentary Magazine: Immigration is good. When handled properly, it can rejuvenate societies; seize advantage from other nations’ brain drain to infuse expertise into key industries; and correct demographics to ensure healthy growth. When uncoordinated, however immigration can undercut societies.

Yahoo! News: German and French officials have discussed plans for a radical overhaul of the European Union that would involve establishing a more integrated and potentially smaller euro zone, EU sources say.

HSLDA: Local and state education officials have threatened to take the Dudek family’s children to school by brute force, according to a letter to parents Jürgen and Rosemarie Dudek obtained by HSLDA. The letter from Hesse Regional School Office Director Anita Hoffman says that among the remedies the state may use against the family is to “take custody of the children from the parents” or to “transport the children to school by force.”

Reuters: Germans expressed fury and frustration at Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s shock decision to call a referendum on the latest aid package, with some saying the gamble would push Greece out of the euro zone.

WorldNetDaily: The battle lines over homeschooling rights overseas and in the United States have been sharpened by the publication of a law journal article that concludes that Germany does persecute homeschoolers and that the first waves of its impact already have hit the U.S. The article, “Germany Homeschoolers as ‘Particular Society Group’: Evaluation Under Current U.S. Asylum Jurisprudence,” was written by Miki Kawashima Matrician and published recently in the 2011 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review.

Fox News: Prosecutors have reopened hundreds of dormant investigations of former Nazi death camp guards and others who might now be charged under a new precedent set by the conviction of retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk, The Associated Press has learned.

News from The Associated Press: The lawyer of an Iranian pastor sentenced to death for apostasy said Thursday he is hopeful an appeals court will acquit his client.

Spiegel Online: US President Obama has given the Europeans a harsh lecture on the dangers of their ongoing debt crisis. Offended by the unsolicited advice, Europeans have suggested the US get its own house in order first. Obama’s remarks were “arrogant” and “absurd,” German commentators say on Wednesday.

Telegraph: Germany and America were on a collision course on Tuesday night over the handling of Europe’s debt crisis after Berlin savaged plans to boost the EU rescue fund as a “stupid idea” and told the White House to sort out its own mess before giving gratuitous advice to others.

Pope Benedict addresses the German parliament

KansasCity.com: Benedict’s speech to the Bundestag was mainly a philosophical attack on the idea that religion has no place in ethics and politics, but he began with a defense of his right to speak as Vatican head.

News from The Associated Press: “We are witnessing a growing indifference to religion in society,” he said at a formal welcoming ceremony at the German president’s Bellevue palace. He called religion a foundation for a successful society and said its values were essential for freedom.

Assyrian International New Agency: The rapid rise of Germany’s homegrown Islamist movement is sparking fears that it will soon turn Germany into the next European focal point of Islamic terrorism. Two recently failed plots by German Islamists to launch chemical attacks have only heightened those concerns.

National Catholic Reporter: A divorced doctor fired from his job at a Catholic hospital because he married another woman should be reinstated, a German court ruled Thursday.

Catholic Culture: A German court has ruled that Catholic institutions can dismiss employees who violate Church teachings regarding marriage–as long as all employees are treated equally.

Spiegel: In mosques or tearooms, Muslim elders dispense verdicts that keep their communities in line. They mediate between aggrieved immigrants, sometimes at the expense of German justice. Some say the arbitrations ease caseloads in court, but others see the creeping advance of Sharia law. | Eugene Volokh comments at the Volokh Conspiracy

The Independent: Prostitutes in the German city of Bonn must carry a ticket purchased from a new parking meter-like machine while working the streets or face hefty fines from tax authorities in a scheme launched on last Monday.

The Washington Post: The leaders of France and Germany called Tuesday for greater economic discipline and unity among European nations but declined to take the expensive financial measures seen by many investors as the only way to halt the continent’s spiraling debt crisis.

WSJ.com: Having given birth to the Protestant Reformation and the current pope, Germany is now at the fore of a broad effort to foster a European theological tradition for a relative newcomer: Islam.

Spiegel (translation by Google): Berlin pays money parents and fathers invents months – yet the effect is close to zero: German couples are hardly convincing, to have more children. Because work and family in this country are difficult to reconcile. The way in which other countries?

The Local: Muslim leaders have slammed the lack of an Islamic spiritual counsellor in the German armed forces in spite of the fact that an estimated 1,200 Muslims serve in the Bundeswehr.

Catholic Culture: Berlin’s newly appointed archbishop has promised to meet with the homosexual activists who have protested his appointment, hoping to convince them of his goodwill.

After an emotional debate, German lawmakers voted Thursday to allow a procedure that looks for genetic disorders in embryos before they are implanted in the womb.

The Local: German state interior ministers are warning of a rise in radical Salafist Islam that poses a risk of home-grown terrorism, with one politician calling for changes to residency laws so “hate preachers” can be more easily deported.

Spiegel Online: The Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (LSVD) is outraged. Following news reported this week by the online magazine Telepolis that the Union of Catholic Physicians (UCP) has been offering homeopathic “Therapy Options for Homosexuality” on their website, the advocacy organization called the suggestion an “insult,” and an “impertinence” that showed “a lack of respect for homosexuals and bisexuals.”

Interfax: . . . head of the Council of Trustees of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and JSC Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin believes tolerance to homosexuality is harmful . . .

AP: Austrian authorities have filed incitement charges against a right-wing politician for commissioning a video game that required players to target and stop mosques, minarets and muezzins as they pop up on a screen.

AP: A year after a widespread sex scandal rocked Roman Catholics in Pope Benedict XVI’s homeland, German intellectuals and faithful alike are turning their backs on the church, calling for change or simply leaving the congregation.

Reuters: One in three university students in the German capital would consider sex work as a means to finance their education, a study from the Berlin Studies Center said Wednesday.

The Local: Family Minister Kristina Schröder said on Monday she would try to make life easier for German couples who cannot have children naturally, with stronger financial backing for IVF treatment and easier adoptions.

“In a precedent-setting move, Europe’s highest court ruled Tuesday that couples in same-sex civil unions deserve the same retirement benefits as those who are married.”

ADF attorney Roger Kiska appeared on Moody Radio with Mark Elfstrand to discuss the Wiens case. | MP3 audio 6:38 mins

Worthy News: The ADF said Eduard Wiens is one of several Christian parents being prosecuted by German authorities over the controversial sex-classes, adding that it asked the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to quickly review appeals filed last year on their behalf. Eduard and Rita Wiens, along wih Arthur and Anna Wiens, chose to keep their four children–a 9- and 10-year-old from each family–from attending obligatory “sexual education” in the town of Salzkotten that they believed taught students “an unbiblical view of sexuality,” ADF said in a statement.

WorthyNews.com: “Parents, not the government, are ultimately responsible for making educational choices for their children, and jailing them for exercising this universal right is ridiculous,” argued ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. The imprisoned Eduard Wiens “was well within his rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach his children a view of sexuality that is in accord with his own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to classes and an interactive play that they found to be objectionable,” Kiska added. The cases could have wider implications, he warned. “The ADF also wants to head off any opportunity for activists in the United States to cite foreign court decisions as patterns to follow.”

LifeSiteNews: “Parents, not the government, are ultimately responsible for making educational choices for their children, and jailing them for exercising this universal right is ridiculous,” said ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. “Eduard Wiens was well within his rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach his children a view of sexuality that is in accord with his own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to classes and an interactive play that they found to be objectionable. In addition to the concerns directly related to this case, ADF wants to head off any opportunity for activists in the U.S. to cite foreign court decisions as patterns to follow.”

ADF asks European Court of Human Rights to quickly review appeals filed 13 months ago, four parents punished for not paying fine for protecting children’s Christian beliefs

AP: “The change was triggered by last year’s sex abuse scandal that rocked the nation’s Roman Catholic Church.”

LifeSiteNews: Parents, not the government, are the ones ultimately responsible for making educational choices for their children, and jailing them for standing on this universal right is simply unconscionable,” said ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska in a press release. “Irene Wiens was well within her rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach her children a view of sexuality that is in accord with her own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to four days of classes and an interactive play that she found to be objectionable.”

AP on Google News: “Germany’s parliament has adopted legislation making it illegal to force someone into marriage, with a possible punishment of five years in prison.”

WorldNetDaily: Kiska explained to WND the issue is the four days of “sexual education” mandated by the state schools. They include the stage play called “My body is mine” as well as interactive programs that “promoted a very liberal view of sex and sexuality which strongly contradicted Mr. and Mrs. Wiens’ moral and Christian beliefs.” Kiska told WND there are a total of five families at this point fighting the government over the mandatory sex training. The government has taken the position that they will be punished repeatedly until they give up their children to state indoctrination. The fathers who were ordered to jail today each already had served one term in prison earlier, he said. [more quotes by ADF attorney Roger Kiska]

Paul Driessen writes at Townhall: “Welcome to the Third World, Europeans, where costly electricity is available only from time to time, at unexpected hours, depending on bureaucratic whims and how much power wind turbines and other “environment-friendly” generators can muster.”

Europe News: “An Egyptian-born imam lost a court fight Wednesday to stave off his expulsion from Germany after he was accused of preaching hatred towards Christians and Jews.”

Crosswalk Religion Today Summaries: The religious liberty group Alliance Defense Fund is now asking the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the mother’s sentence, although the father has already served his. Roger Kiska, ADF legal counsel, said, “Irene Wiens was well within her rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach her children a view of sexuality that is in accord with her own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to four days of classes and an interactive play that she found to be objectionable.”

Christian Today: Roger Kiska, ADF legal counsel, said: “Parents, not the government, are the ones ultimately responsible for making educational choices for their children, and jailing them for standing on this universal right is simply unconscionable. “Irene Wiens was well within her rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach her children a view of sexuality that is in accord with her own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to four days of classes and an interactive play that she found to be objectionable.”

Noticias Diarias (Google translation from Spanish): Roger Kiska, who has been defending the case brought before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg by the Alliance Defense Fund Foundation, which specializes in protecting freedom of conscience, argues that “the parents, not governments ultimately responsible for the education of their children. ” “Jailing parents for exercising a right universally accepted is simply unthinkable. The Wiens family is host to the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right of parents to pass on to their children’s view of sexuality that is in accord with their beliefs.

One News Now: Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) legal counsel Roger Kiska tells OneNewsNow that the German school system has made it mandatory for nine- and ten-year-olds to participate in the programs, including an interactive play. “The purpose of the play, they say, is to prevent abuse,” says Kiska, “but what they’re teaching is that if it feels good, do it.” [more quotes by Roger]

New American: “Parents, not the government, are the ones ultimately responsible for making educational choices for their children, and jailing them for standing on this universal right is simply unconscionable,” declared ADF attorney Roger Kiska. “Irene Wiens was well within her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights to opt to teach her children a view of sexuality that is in accord with her own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to four days of classes and an interactive play that she found to be objectionable.” Kiska noted that the ADF is defending four similar case . . . [more]

Christian Science Monitor: “As in France and Germany, Mr. Cameron’s declaration seems aimed at one group – Muslims. More precisely, it taps a growing public concern in Europe about those from Islamic backgrounds who are increasingly numerous and becoming a permanent part of Europe’s social fabric. In Britain and across the Continent, that unease is fueling right-wing parties but also influencing mainstream electorates worried that Europe is losing its traditional identity.”

Mercator.net: ADF filed an emergency appeal yesterday with the European Court of Human Rights, calling for Mrs Wien’s immediate release. Legal counsel Roger Kiska, based in the Slovak Republic, says the Wiens are well within their rights under the European Convention of Human Rights and other laws. ADF is representing four similar cases before the ECHR. “These types of cases are crucial battles in the effort to keep bad decisions concerning parental rights overseas from being adopted by American courts,” says Mr Kiska.

AP: “Germany is so desperate to encourage people to have more children that the government is proposing a bill allowing citizens under six to laugh, shout and play at any volume.”

European News: “The leader of a newly created anti-Islamic party in Germany said he wants to stop the immigration of Muslims and described Islam as a “totalitarian system” bent on supplanting western liberal values.”

The Local: “While homosexual couples are allowed to adopt their partner’s own biological children thanks to a Constitutional Court ruling in the summer of 2009, the same rule does not apply to non-biological adopted children. But the Hamburg upper regional court (OLG) called this ‘unequal treatment of marriage and civil unions in current adoption law’ that is neither constitutional nor in the child’s best interest, broadcaster NDR reported.”

Associated Press: “The leading medical association and key pharmaceutical companies in Germany, where anti-death penalty sentiment is strong, said Monday they would not support exporting a drug to the U.S. that is needed for lethal injections there.”

Peter Berger writing in The American Interest: “Conservative cassandras (please note: I am not one of them) are turning out to be empirically correct, even if one disagrees with their philosophy: once you legitimate same-sex marriage, you open the door to any number of other alternatives to marriage as a union of one man and one woman: polygamous (an interesting question for Muslims in Germany and dissident Mormons in Arizona), polyandrous, polygenerational – perhaps polyspecies?”

Deutsche Welle: “Susanne Baer is Germany’s most famous female lawyer, known for addressing equal opportunity and discrimination issues. In 2011 Germany will, for the first time, have a self-confessed feminist sitting as a judge in the country’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court. Jutta Wagner, the president of the German Women Lawyers Association, welcomes the decision to nominate Baer for two reasons.”

Deutsche Welle: “‘We ask that Christians and others religious minorities be able to live in security and dignity in their homeland, where they and their ancestors have lived for hundreds, and in some cases thousands of years,’ Karl Juesten, prelate and head of the Commissariat of German Bishops, told the Hannoversche Allgemeine daily.”

Deutsche Welle: “Frankfurt’s Goethe University has introduced a three-year bachelor’s degree in Islamic studies, the first such course in Germany. The program places Islamic theology on the same footing as Christian and Jewish theology at German universities. The aim is to provide students with an academic and scientific approach to the topic.”

Boston.com (AP): “Police in France, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries have increased surveillance of Orthodox Coptic Christian churches. In Italy, Copts have asked for special protection. And in Chatenay-Malabry, just outside Paris, metal barricades surround the church of St. Mary and St. Mark — a vivid sign of the fear that has been injected into the Copts’ season of peace.”

Deutsche Welle: “Religious leaders in Germany have spoken out against recent moves by parliamentarians to force a relaxation of laws on the genetic screening of embryos as part of in vitro fertilization.”

Wall Street Journal: “The German government’s latest move to crack down on groups that promote extremist Muslim teaching came earlier this month, as dozens of police raided homes, offices and religious schools in the western German cities of Bremen, Braunschweig and Mönchengladbach. The security forces were seeking evidence that could lead to the banning of two organizations that officials say are calling for imposing Islamic law in place of German law.”

Telegraph: “Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said the question of children’s wellbeing should come before the wishes of adults wanting to become parents.”

Reuters: “Pope Benedict’s invitation to address German parliament during his visit to his homeland next September 22-25 has not sat well with some members of the opposition. Volker Beck, the Green party floor leader, has protested that inviting a religious leader to address parliament, the Bundestag, is unprecedented and the wrong place to speak about religion.”

The Desert Rock Voice: “The Alliance Defense Fund (www.alliancedefensefund.org) provided funding to the Home School Legal Defense Association (www.hslda.org) in their effort to assist the Romeikes . . . Two million or about 4% of school-age children in the United States are homeschooled. It’s a much different story overseas.”

OneNewsNow: “The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is being allowed to represent a German pro-life group in a court challenge to the German government over its denying an assisted suicide request . . . ‘It’s a case of judicial activism. It’s a case that really shouldn’t be before the court, and it certainly may set a very dangerous precedent for all of Europe,’ [Roger Kiska] warns.”

Christian Science Monitor: “German officials said the preemptive raids, conducted under German anti-Nazi laws of association, were aimed at uncovering unconstitutional or separatist acts and not part of an international terror hunt.”

aidsmap: “Doctors who carried out a stem cell transplant on an HIV-infected man with leukaemia in 2007 say they now believe the man to have been cured of HIV infection as a result of the treatment, which introduced stem cells which happened to be resistant to HIV infection.”

AP: “German authorities raided homes and religious schools connected to two radical Islamist groups with suspected terrorist links on Tuesday morning, the Interior Ministry said.”

Hudson New York: “The German state of Lower Saxony will start including Islam in its schools’ core curriculum as part of an initiative to counter growing anti-Islam sentiment in Europe. Dr. Bernad Althusmann, Minister of Education in Lower Saxony announced that schools there will start including Islamic education in their main curriculum . . . ”

Federal Administrative Court of Germany [Google Translation]: “The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, by orders from today in two cases in which this is about the refugee status because of religious persecution, called [on] the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg . . . for a preliminary ruling [concerning] the interpretation of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of the European Union (Qualification Directive). This [includes] the alignment of legal conditions for the granting of refugee status within the European Union. The German legislature . . . implemented the directive in August 2007.”

Welt Online [Google Translation]: “This trend he attributed to the introduction of civil partnership law eight years ago. This allows homosexuals to give their partnership a legal framework and protect each other.”

domradio.de [Google Translation]: “The Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced, in July, August and September 2010 reported 26,500 abortions in Germany. That was 100 fewer than in the third quarter of 2009.”

Cleveland.com [RNS]: “A new educational program in the western German town of Osnabrueck is about a month into an experiment to help imams learn about European society so that they, in turn, can give better advice to their followers . . . Supporters of the German programs eventually want to go beyond filling knowledge gaps on Western society to providing university degrees for would-be imams or Islamic teachers in grade schools.”