November 4, 2009: Italy has reacted with outrage to yesterday's verdict in Strasburg by a European Court of Human Rights banning the display of crucifixes in Italian classrooms. The court ruled that crucifixes on walls in Italian schools could bother children who were not Christian. Two Italian laws dating back to the 1920s, at a time when Fascists were in power in Italy, require that schools must display crucifixes

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi described the Strasbourg ruling as a silly attempt to deny Europe's Christian roots, adding that "this is not acceptable for us Italians." The conservative politician enjoys considerable support from the country's Roman Catholic majority

Referring to the many churches in his country, Berlusconi declared "you only have to walk 200 meters forwards, backwards, to the right or to the left and you find a symbol of Christianity. This is one of those decisions that often make us doubt Europe's good sense." The Italian prime minister confirmed that Italy plans to appeal the ruling.

The court ruling was criticized in Italy across ideological boundaries in a rare moment of unity among Italian politicians. Only some groups on the far left and atheists voiced support for the court's decision. The lawsuit against the crucifixes was brought by an Italian citizen who complained that her children had to attend a public school in northern Italy which had crucifixes in every room, thereby denying her the right to give them a secular education.

The Vatican's response was one of "shock and sadness", causing Vatican official Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to remark that "Europe in the third millennium is leaving us only Halloween pumpkins while depriving us of our most beloved symbols." The court decision came only two weeks after Pope Benedict had called upon Europeans not to forget Europe's Christian roots.

Like other western European countries, Italy is involved in debate on how to deal with a growing population of non-Christian immigrants, mostly Muslims. The Strasbourg court ruling could become another battle cry for the government's policy drive to crack down on new arrivals. Mara Bizzotto, a European parliamentarian for Berlusconi's anti-immigrant coalition partner, the Northern League, asked why the European court had taken action against a Christian symbol but did not comment on Muslim reglious symbols such as "veils, burqas and niqabs."

A Muslim parent, Adel Smith, and a Jewish Italian judge, Luigi Tosti, have tried to have them removed while at least one teacher has been disciplined for protesting about them. Smith, the head of the small Union of Italian Muslims, succeeded in getting a court order in 2003 to have crosses removed from the school his children attended. But the order was later reversed after a nationwide protest.

The ruling was noted with some interest in Germany, where crucifixes were ordered removed from Bavarian classrooms in 1995 because a law mandated that they be present, only to have the Bavarian state legislature issue a state law requiring them to be removed if a parent complained about them.