Berlin
Through the last weeks’ news coverage, German citizens have also
become aware of the extent to which Israel is becoming a religious State
and how this restricts the citizens’ freedom. In the written press,
reports regarding gender segregation in buses and disturbances during
demonstrations were published. At the end of December, even President Schimon Peres encouraged protests against Ultra-Orthodox Jews.
This subject escalated during the last weeks to become omnipresent and is a matter of concern to the “Israel Chofshit – Be free Israel” entity,
the Foundation’s cooperation partner, since its creation two years ago.
The organization demands not only the “freedom of religions” but also
the “freedom of religion”; this means: the freedom of not belonging to
any religion, and consequently, of not having to respect religious
commands.
A group of leading activists from Israel Chofshit
traveled to Germany with the intention of finding new impulses for their
work in Israel. During the course of conversations held with
representatives from the religious communities, politics, the Judicial
System and from initiatives within the civil society, they came to
understand the existing special relationship between the Church and the
State in Germany, compared to other models in the western world. This
model is also known as cooperative secularism, as opposed to laicism,
which exists in France and that promotes the strict separation between
Church and State.
During an introduction seminar lead by Martin Valchanov
–expert in Ecclesiastical State Law– and during conversations held with
officers both from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the
Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin, the trip members received
information concerning the German Ecclesiastical State Law and the type
of constitutional complaints that have already been submitted. From the
Muslim perspective, the President of the German-speaking Muslim Circle, Iman Reimann,
also commented on a current case regarding swimming lessons for Muslim
girls. She declared to be in favor of specially tailored swimming suits
for girls, which would allow them to participate in swimming lessons and
also abide by religious commands. An additional panoramic view
concerning Muslim life in Berlin was provided by the visit to the
Islamic Cultural Center of Bosniaks.
Dr. Stefan Ruppert,
member of the German Federal Parliament and spokesperson of the Free
Democratic Party (FDP) regarding Ecclesiastical Policy matters, stated
the difficulties derived from the lack of recognition of Islam as a
religion in Germany. The absence of a central organization supported by
the majority of Muslim communities constitutes one of the main reasons
why Islam is not yet recognized as a religion in Germany.
Different,
however, is the situation of Jews in Germany, who are represented by
the Jewish Central Council. During an interview with Stephan J. Kramer,
the entity’s General Secretary, it was confirmed that the number of
Jews is decreasing in Germany, which is also the case for other
religious and ideological communities.
The “Be Free” NGO takes
advantage of the modern social networks in order to mobilize activists
and to advertise actions. Through conversations held with the
representatives of various political parties, youth organizations and
the public affairs field, the participants received information about
the benefits of new media and social networks. A lively exchange took
place with Dr. Steffen Wenzel and Daniel Reichert,
Presidents of politik-digital.de and Liquid Democracy e.V. (Liquid
Democracy registered association), who presented the participants modern
computer programs to carry out grassroot campaigning.
Israel
Chofshit activists returned to Israel with plenty of new ideas aiming to
continue to fight for the implementation and assurance of individual
freedom in the future.
- Website of FNF Office in Israel
- Website of Israel Chofshit – Be free Israel
overview
