Photo ~ Bishop Vitus Huonder
Swiss Bishops Dueling Over Sex Ed in Schools

CHUR, Switzerland, December 13, 2011 – In a statement the bishop of Chur, Switzerland, Vitus Huonder, has argued parents should be given the right to withdraw their children from state-sanctioned sex-ed classes in school. However, the statement has drawn the ire of another Swiss bishop who publicly suggested that to deny sex ed as part of the school curriculum to children is a denial of human rights.

In an open letter written to mark Human Rights Day on December 10, Bishop Huonder said that government-sponsored sex education harms children by promoting “a kind of education that destroys the natural protection of a person’s sexuality, namely the sense of shame.”

However, Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel, who according to Swissinfo.ch is a member of the liberal wing of Switzerland’s Roman Catholic church, rejected Bishop Huonder’s concerns and asserted that sex education courses support and supplement parents’ educational mission.

Bishop Gmür told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper that “teaching about human sexuality is the job of the school. It shouldn’t be relinquished.”

“These courses can support and supplement the educational mission of parents,” he said in an interview published on Sunday by the weekly newspaper. “When schools outline the various aspects (concerning sexuality), I see no reason to remove children (from the classes).”

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