Apparently since 2006, it’s been a requirement in Germany to take secular ethics classes in schools. Great idea. But that didn’t make some people happy, and so they proposed giving students the choice of taking secular ethics or a religion course.
Religion is most areas in Germany is a mandated course, and I’m all for that, actually. I think it’s important to teach people about religion; not just Christianity, obviously, but all the world religions. The more people know about the history of these religions, the more I think they’ll be able to see them for what they are. Berlin, it appears, is worried that a religion course could be hijacked to teach predominately Christian values, and that doesn’t go over well with the strongly secular city, not to mention the large Muslim and Turkish population that resides there.