In Bavarian authorities, “a cross must be clearly visible as an expression of the historical and cultural character of Bavaria”. A court must now decide whether the provision is legal.
On Wednesday (1:30 p.m.), the highest administrative court in the Free State will deal with the controversial Kreuzer edict of the Bavarian state government.
The Association for Freedom of Thought, which is critical of religion, has filed a complaint against paragraph 28 of the rules of procedure for the authorities of the Free State of Bavaria, which has stated since 2018: “In the entrance area of every office building, a clearly visible cross must be attached as an expression of the historical and cultural character of Bavaria.”
In April 2018, the Bavarian cabinet, on the initiative of Markus Söder (CSU), who had just been promoted to Prime Minister at the time, decided that a crucifix should be hung in the entrance area of every state authority in the future. The decree came into force in June 2018 despite strong criticism – even from the churches, which accused him of misusing the Christian symbol for electoral purposes.
Plaintiff obliged to clarify
Shortly thereafter, the Association for Freedom of Thought, which sees itself as a worldview committed to enlightenment, filed a lawsuit against the decree, which is now being negotiated.
“All plaintiffs have to visit an authority in their lives or are even taken there,” said the initiator of the lawsuit, Assunta Tammelleo, about the administrative court’s decision in June 2020. “There is hardly an area in which the plaintiffs are not confronted with the fact that the cross is demonstratively held up to them as a quasi-state symbol.”
However, Söder himself has already admitted that he regrets this controversial decree. “I would do some things differently today, especially in terms of form,” he said in 2020. Bavaria is a “liberal-conservative” country, Söder emphasized in the interview at the time. “The CSU must not narrow itself to the conservative.”
