EU court bans crucifix in Italian schools
This is a very big move by the European Union court. Though the court has been asserting itself on business issues such as competition, social issues have been less controversial. It's going to be interesting to see what new cases related to church and state come as a result of this. In this particular case it is somewhat understandable to accept the argument that the crucifix is part of the Italian identity (from a purely historical perspective) though it's harder to make the argument that the crucifix in classrooms today is much more than imposing a specific religion on students. Especially since their mandatory presence was made law by Mussolini. There was uproar in Italy today over a ruling by the European court of human rights that the crucifixes that hang in most Italian classrooms are a violation of religious and educational freedoms. The seven judges, whose decision could prompt a Europe-wide review of the use of religious symbols on public premises, said state schools had to "observe confessional neutrality". http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/eu-court-bans-crucifix-in-italian.html

This is why I don't understand why so many countries are willing to give up sovereignty. My own included (with the UN and WTO).

"Because ruling elites usually want to be part of a bigger club (like CEOs of large companies they persue takeovers and mergers, always assuming that it is they, themselves who will be in charge of the larger entity). Empire building, if you like. " The ordinary people are often involved in fighting for smaller national entities - hence the independence movements seen all over the globe. Down here, there is a movement for independence for Corsica, just to take one example. Mo