The European Court of Human Rights is examining a case brought by Greek atheists against their own government, concerning the public display of religious symbols and artwork.
The controversy began when a pair of atheists asked that Christian symbols in the courtroom be removed during hearings that centre on religious issues and questions.
They claimed that the presence of such symbols was discriminatory, compromised the objectivity of the court, and violated their right to a fair trial, as well as their right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Their request was denied by the Greek court.
Now the matter has been escalated to the European Court of Human Rights, whatever the court decides could well impact the display of religious symbols in 46 countries which are part of the Council of Europe.
Legal advocacy group ADF International has intervened in the case, arguing that religious symbols are often also symbols of national heritage and do nothing to threaten or compromise a person's human rights.
Adina Portaru, senior counsel at ADF International, said, “The display of religious symbols in public spaces is in no way incompatible with human rights law. Public spaces should not be stripped of crosses, icons or other symbols with religious, cultural, and historical significance in the name of pluralism.
“The Court has repeatedly affirmed that religious symbols, particularly those forming a country’s heritage, do not violate freedom of religion or the right to a fair trial.”
In a legal brief, ADF also argued that attempting to remove religious symbols under the guise of “state neutrality” could constitute a hostile act towards the Christian religion and completely fail to recognise the Christian heritage of European nations.
ADF previously intervened in an Italian case in which the display of crucifixes in schools was challenged. In that case the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a crucifix does not constitute indoctrination and does not impact on the rights of freedom of thought, conscience or religion of Italian school children.
Portaru appeared to be optimistic that the court would make a similar ruling in the Greek case.
“The European Convention on Human Rights robustly protects freedom of religion. Culturally rooted religious symbols or artwork, such as centuries-old Orthodox Christian icons, do not impose a belief on anyone nor direct judicial decision-making," she said.
