Excerpt:
A newly published decision from March reveals that Germany's Constitutional Court rejected a lawsuit by Muslim parents who wanted their son to be exempt from the religious teachings at a publicly funded Catholic school in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the court, the boy's parents did not make a strong enough argument for the judges to consider the case.
Underlining Germany's sometimes porous boundary between church and state, the court has effectively affirmed the elementary school's right to force non-Catholic students to attend religion classes and services.
The director of the school, who was not named in the ruling, told the parents that non-Catholic children could only attend the school if they signed a declaration confirming that their son would take part in religion classes and the school's church services.