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Muslim wins Italian court ban on crucifixes in classroom
The Guardian ^ | Monday October 27, 2003 | Sophie Arie

Posted on 10/26/2003 6:33:33 PM PST by yonif

A Muslim rights advocate has scored a victory over the Catholic Church and conservative Italians, winning a court ruling that will remove crucifixes from the state primary school his children attend. "The presence of the symbol of the cross shows the will of the state to put Catholicism at the centre of the universe as the absolute truth," Judge Mario Montanaro ruled in the central town of L'Aquila.

A concordat with the Vatican confirmed in 1984 that Catholicism was no longer the state religion. And laws introduced in 1920s fascist Italy, making crucifixes mandatory in classrooms, have been interpreted loosely since then, though not revoked. The cross is still a permanent fixture in many government offices and hospitals.

The judge argued that the 1920s norms were out of date and that the crucifix culture in schools showed that the state had "not the slightest respect" for the role of other religions.

The ruling flies in the face of Italy's conservative leaders, including the education minister, Letizia Moratti, who supports the crucifix in class as a way of valuing "Christian roots". Roberto Maroni, a Labour minister and member of the rightwing Northern League, said yesterday: "This is outrageous. It is unacceptable that one judge should cancel out millennia of history."

Many teachers, however, have hailed the ruling as a sign that the education system should be made truly secular.

The court case was brought by Adel Smith of the Union of the Muslims of Italy. Of a Scots family, Mr Smith converted to Islam in 1987. In public, he termed the crucifix a "small body on two wooden sticks". He wanted Koran prayers displayed at his children's school and lobbied to have an "offensive" 15th century Giovanni di Modena fresco removed from Bologna cathedral and Dante's Divine Comedy deleted from the school syllabus. He said both showed the prophet Mohammed cast into hell.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholicchurch; crucifixes; dante; divinecomedy; islam; italy; purge; school
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To: yonif
...and lobbied to have an "offensive" 15th century Giovanni di Modena fresco removed from Bologna cathedral and Dante's Divine Comedy deleted from the school syllabus. He said both showed the prophet Mohammed cast into hell.

The fresco that Mr. Smith doesn't like. Mohammed is the figure on the top right rock.


21 posted on 10/27/2003 12:31:52 PM PST by texasbluebell
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A school in Italy has been ordered to remove crucifixes from its classroom walls in a legal case that has ignited a bitter national row.

     Despite the fact that she's an atheist, I'd bet Oriana Fallaci will come close to "blowing a gasket" over this news.

     As I see it, the pervasive problem with these sand fleas (mohammedans) is that they do not blend into, nor respect the culture where they take up residence.  Their-way-or-the-highway (or worse) garbage needs to stop!

22 posted on 10/27/2003 1:04:13 PM PST by GirlShortstop
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To: yonif
Adel Smith of the Union of the Muslims of Italy

Why don't they throw this bum out of Italy?

23 posted on 10/27/2003 1:07:43 PM PST by B Knotts
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To: yonif
A concordat with the Vatican confirmed in 1984 that Catholicism was no longer the state religion

Wrong move---why on earth did the Catholic Church go along with that?

Roberto Maroni, a Labour minister and member of the rightwing Northern League, said yesterday: "This is outrageous. It is unacceptable that one judge should cancel out millennia of history."

Notice the "right wing" in front of Northern league.

The court case was brought by Adel Smith of the Union of the Muslims of Italy. Of a Scots family, Mr Smith converted to Islam in 1987.

Another convert? Another fanatic? Another former Catholic/Christian/atheist with a personal gripe? The connection between anti Christian anti Capitalism and becoming Muslim is getting stronger my the minute.

I just can't help think that this whole Muslim ideology is orchestrating a takeover - gradual but certain.

24 posted on 10/27/2003 2:29:15 PM PST by eleni121
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To: eleni121
A concordat with the Vatican confirmed in 1984 that Catholicism was no longer the state religion

Wrong move---why on earth did the Catholic Church go along with that?

A concordat is nothing more than a mutually-agreed-upon memorandum of understanding, which gets relevant topics out in the open and in writing. The Vatican has/had no power to dictate the result. The concordat simply was a formal acknowledgement of reality.

25 posted on 10/27/2003 5:25:45 PM PST by Steve0113
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To: eleni121
I just can't help think that this whole Muslim ideology is orchestrating a takeover - gradual but certain.

Correct. And the atheists and militant secularists are their "useful idiots." If they only realized what they are helping to bring about, they'd be horrified. But their irrational hatred of Christianity blinds them.

26 posted on 10/27/2003 7:02:07 PM PST by B Knotts
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To: yonif; Hermann the Cherusker
But wait a minute. The pope kissed the koran , and the FR Catholics tell me they worship the same God..How can this be?

Once the Muslims become a force in Italy because of the Italian low birthrate..they just might turn the Vatican into a mosque
27 posted on 10/27/2003 10:00:53 PM PST by RnMomof7
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To: yonif
Islam -- the Whore of Babylon BUMP!
28 posted on 10/28/2003 6:20:56 AM PST by ThomasMore (Pax et bonum!)
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To: RnMomof7
they just might turn the Vatican into a mosque

Only in Calvinist dreams! ;^)

29 posted on 10/28/2003 6:21:55 AM PST by ThomasMore (Pax et bonum!)
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To: texasbluebell
Objectively speaking, Mohammed IS in HELL!
30 posted on 10/28/2003 6:24:14 AM PST by ThomasMore (Pax et bonum!)
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To: RnMomof7
Once the Muslims become a force in Italy because of the Italian low birthrate..they just might turn the Vatican into a mosque.

Hope I'm gone by then. It wouldn't be surprising, given the fact that it happened in the past to one of the great churches of Byzantium.

link

"Documents indicate that the first Hagia Sophia was built by Emperor Constantius, son of Emperor Constantinos I, and was opened for services in 360 AD.

"Originally, Sophia, which means "Holy Wisdom", was a name given to Christ by 4th century theologians.

"When the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, the church was converted into a mosque, a place of Islamic worship."

This link

has photos of the beautiful old mosaics.

31 posted on 10/28/2003 6:44:44 AM PST by texasbluebell
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To: ThomasMore
they just might turn the Vatican into a mosque
Only in Calvinist dreams! ;^)

LOL Hi Thomas

I think most of us would be appalled , because even if Catholics think we worship another God..we consider RC's as part of the professing church...needless to say Muslims are not..

Besides..without a Pope , who would we pick on?? *grin*

32 posted on 10/28/2003 7:49:25 AM PST by RnMomof7
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To: texasbluebell
The Muslims have an agenda , and they are patient.

We need to evangelize them ..

My Pastor is an expert on Islam. He began a series on Islam in a small start up church in a small town south of the city.

He requested that we pray very hard because Muslims came in numbers to his 1st presentation (must have been from the city) . I think they were there to intimidate him.

But many continued to come so we pray that at least one heard the truth and the gospel.
33 posted on 10/28/2003 7:54:10 AM PST by RnMomof7
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To: knighthawk
antichristappearsbump
34 posted on 10/28/2003 9:29:19 AM PST by tracer
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To: wizardoz
I used to live in Italy. This is truly disturbing. What pi**es me off is that muslims, who arent even from the country they are in, can change laws to accomodate them. And its going to happen here.
35 posted on 10/28/2003 9:32:37 AM PST by cardinal4 (Hillary and Clark rhymes with Ft Marcy park...)
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To: Travis McGee
I'll be throwing a party then!
36 posted on 10/28/2003 9:33:03 AM PST by knighthawk (And we all cry for freedom with your fists in the sky)
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To: cardinal4
I used to live in Italy. This is truly disturbing. What pi**es me off is that muslims, who arent even from the country they are in, can change laws to accomodate them. And its going to happen here.

*Going* to happen???

37 posted on 10/28/2003 2:00:47 PM PST by wizardoz (Palestinians are just dynamite!)
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To: B Knotts
And the atheists and militant secularists are their "useful idiots." If they only realized what they are helping to bring about, they'd be horrified.

If they knew what happens to their type once they are no longer useful....

38 posted on 10/28/2003 2:04:24 PM PST by wizardoz (Palestinians are just dynamite!)
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To: yonif
oy vey !!! Enough already !!!
39 posted on 01/12/2004 7:07:18 AM PST by Robert Drobot (God, family, country. All else is meaningless.)
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