ADF: Italian Catholicism teacher has freedom to convey church teaching on sexuality

Complaint filed over morality questionnaire in optional lesson

Tuesday, Nov 19, 2013

Attorney sound bite: Paul Coleman

ROME — Alliance Defending Freedom has sent a letter to Italy’s National Anti-Discrimination Office in defense of a teacher who asked students to answer a questionnaire about the morality of a variety of activities in an optional hour of teaching on Catholicism. Two activist groups filed a discrimination complaint simply because one of the activities among the many listed was homosexual behavior.

“The government should not honor requests to punish citizens for engaging in perfectly legitimate and protected free speech,” said Legal Counsel Paul Coleman. “It should not surprise anyone that the subject of sin and morality would occur in an optional lesson on official Catholic teaching. No reasonable person should conclude that this somehow ‘discriminates’ against anybody, especially since the questionnaire never even singled out any particular behavior.”

During the optional hour on Catholicism at Liceo Classico Mariotti, a university preparatory high school in Perugia, the teacher distributed a questionnaire to students asking them to rank from 0 to 10 the gravity of sinfulness of a list of activities, including selling drugs, war, terrorism, murder, contraception, abortion, premarital sex, and homosexual behavior. Two groups, Arcigay and Omphalos Association, learned of the assignment and filed a complaint with the National Anti-Discrimination Office, claiming that the questionnaire provoked discriminatory arguments among the students.

The European Convention of Human Rights states that “freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is one of the foundations of a ‘democratic society.’” The Alliance Defending Freedom letter explains that the questionnaire was “not focused on homosexuality and carried out during an hour of optional teaching of the Catholic religion” and that, regardless, the ECHR’s protection of freedom of religion and expression takes “precedence over an individual’s ‘right’ not to be offended by statements critical to homosexuality.”

“The questionnaire, moreover, turns out to be developed and evaluated in a neutral and objective manner, without giving any importance to the sexual orientation of the students,” the letter states. “In any case it needs to be considered that the teaching of the Catholic religion is optional for the students….”

The letter was co-written with local counsel Mattia Ferrero, one of nearly 2,300 attorneys allied with Alliance Defending Freedom.

Letter in Italian

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

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Legal Documents

Letter to Italy’s National Anti-Discrimination Office: (Italian, 2013-11-08)

Letter to Italy’s National Anti-Discrimination Office: (English, 2013-11-08)

Related Resources

ABOUT Paul Coleman

Paul Coleman serves as executive director of ADF International, overseeing the legal advocacy of all ADF International offices. Specializing in international human rights and European law, Coleman has been involved in more than 20 cases before the European Court of Human Rights and has authored submissions before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, UN Human Rights Committee, and numerous national courts. Coleman earned his LL.M. and postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the Northumbria Law School, graduating with distinction. He also has a bachelor of laws from Newcastle University and graduated with first-class honours. Coleman is a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and is the author of two books and numerous articles.