BFF-37 Bavaria order to put crosses on public buildings kicks in

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BFF-37

GERMANY-POLITICS-RELIGION

Bavaria order to put crosses on public buildings kicks in

MUNICH, Germany, June 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A controversial decree
requiring Christian crucifixes to be put up at entrances of most public
buildings in Bavaria came into force Friday, sparking accusations of identity
politics ahead of elections in the southern German state.

Markus Soeder, Bavaria’s conservative state premier, had initiated the
measure in April, saying “the cross is a fundamental symbol of our Bavarian
identity and way of life”.

But the order sparked an outcry, with critics accusing Soeder of
politicising a religious symbol as his CSU party battles to claw back voters
who have turned to the far-right and Islamophobic AfD ahead of state election
in October.

“Soeder has misused the cross for an election manoeuvre,” the region’s
Social Democrat chief Natascha Kohnen told the Augsburger Allgemeine daily.

Soeder was also widely mocked, including by the state premier of
neighbouring Baden-Wuerttemburg, Winfried Kretschmann, who said a photo of
his Bavarian colleague holding the cross made him “think of a vampire film”.

But among the harshest condemnation was that from Cardinal Reinhard Marx,
the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, who warned Soeder that “if
the cross is viewed only as a cultural symbol, then it has not been
understood.”

“Then the cross is being expropriated by the state,” said Marx in an
interview with Sueddeutsche daily, adding that it must not be used as a tool
to exclude.

Amid the push-back, Soeder’s office had sought to tone down the decree,
saying that while it was compulsory for buildings like police stations,
courts or ministry offices, it was merely recommended for higher educational
institutions, museums and theatres.

– ‘Shaped by Christian values’ –

Defending his cross decree on Friday, Soeder told Bavarian radio that “we
are shaped by Christian values, with Christian holidays.”

The Protestant state premier, speaking from the Vatican where he had an
audience with the Pope, stressed that the majority of Bavarians backed the
move.

After scoring the worst result since 1949 in September elections,
Soeder’s CSU — sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU — has been
desperately seeking to woo voters back from the far-right.

Campaigning on an anti-Islam platform, the AfD has capitalised on German
fears of the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers, many from Muslim
countries.

After becoming the biggest opposition force in parliament, the AfD is
poised to enter Bavaria’s state legislature.

The increasingly fragmented political landscape in Germany means that
the CSU may for the first time lose its absolute majority in Bavaria,
prompting it to take an increasingly hard line on issues related to
immigration or religion.

Former Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer, now Germany’s interior minister,
has stated that “Islam is not part of Germany”, even though more than four
million Muslims call Europe’s biggest economy home.

For the Augsburger Allgemeine, the “CSU appears to be wooing AfD
supporters by taking on its rhetoric on refugees, Islam and of course, the
cross.”

BSS/AFP/RY/1643 hrs