Ceci n'est pas une endive - Tag - crazy world - Comments

The Toilet in the Bathroom - Guillaume

Guillaume — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:47:50 +0100

« A bathroom without a toilet is not a bathroom ». Well, he didn't say someone had to actually use it :). You can probably find some shelves and a heavy cupboard...

Holy shit! The Church got me. - Olaf

Olaf — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:27:03 +0100

The BBC article about the roots of French secularism you linked too also says that "all obvious religious symbols from schools - including headscarves, Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps" are banned.

In Germany, there is no issue about what school children wear to school (imagine the state forbade Jews their kipa (scullcap)! Gulp!).

However, there has been an issue with German teachers wearing a headscarf and whether this was legal or not. The conclusion some states (such as Baden Würtemberg) reached was, that the headscarf was illegal for teachers - but NOT the nun habit (the Christian version of a headscarf and modest clothes). (There are some schools run by monasteries)

Weird, isn't it?

And the weird thing was, that the courts even uphold this rule, even though it clearly favors one religion over another...and even though this runs against the German constitution ("no one may be discriminated against because of their religion")

Holy shit! The Church got me. - Olaf

Olaf — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:53:12 +0100

In order to get "out" of the church, you simply go to your local "Bürgerbüro" (office that deals with anything going on between the city and you, the citizen. The place they issue passports as well as parking permits. The place they sell you a trash bag if you have more trash than your alloted quota/than fits into your trash can) and state that you want to leave the church ("Ich möchte aus der Kirche austreten"). You pay a (steep! for that little administrative effort at least) fee, which differs between cities, get a piece of paper which states that you left church and take that paper as well as your "Lohnsteuerkarte" (colored income tax piece of cardboard) to another person in the same office and they will cross out your religious affiliation and then you won't have to pay tax on your (non existing) religious affiliation.

If you try to argue that you never "joined" the church in Germany good luck. Most Germans were joined by being born by parents associated to a Christian church and I had to pay, even though *I* never joined anything.

You have to prove that you are not a member of the church, NOT the other way around - even though it *should* be the other way around. But I never understood German logic either.