In the last few days there has been a large, controversial debate on social networks about a school service at a primary school in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This was about a blessing that was to be read out.
We have now received the first official press release on this topic, which we can publish here without comment and unchanged. First, a look at the origin of the information: “Primary school students in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Upper Bavaria) are forced to recite a surah with the words “Allahu akbar”!”
We addressed the primary school in question about this picture and the original statement, and today we received a message from the school council of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen State Education Authority:
Press release 12/2016, October 21, 2016
Statement on the Muslim content of an ecumenical beginning of the school year service at a primary school in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The state school authority in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district was made aware on October 19, 2016 that as part of the ecumenical beginning of the school year service at a primary school in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on September 15, 2016, at the end of the service, in addition to the Christian “Our Father,” there was also a Muslim prayer from two students was read out in Arabic and German.
This component of the ecumenical school service is currently being discussed very controversially in various social media and in emails to schools and the state education authority, and is sometimes shortened or not presented in accordance with the facts. Some statements made directly against the school, its management or individual teachers were also forwarded to the responsible criminal enforcement authorities for further review due to their content.
The school management is organizationally responsible for creating a framework for church services. However, the content of the service and thus the decision on the type and extent of the inclusion of content elements in an ecumenical school service is the responsibility of the Protestant and Catholic Church or the teachers with the appropriate teaching license. The specific content of the beginning of the school year service on September 15, 2016 was the joint responsibility of one teacher employed by the Protestant and the Catholic Church. The State Education Authority will discuss and work through the entire issue together with the school and representatives of the two churches during the current discussion.
Markus Köpf
School Council
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )