Values Education

Last month, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that crosses displayed in Italy's classrooms violate parents' rights to raise their children according to their own values.

A Finnish immigrant sued after schools in Padua refused to remove the crosses from her child's classrooms. Her efforts failed in Italian courts. But the European court ordered the state to pay the woman 5,000 euros.

Italian government officials call the ruling "shameful" and say the rest of the European Union is abandoning its heritage. And citizens are going to the piazzas to collect signatures--including at this tent in Piazza della Repubblica last weekend--in an attempt to reverse the ruling.

This would all be quaint if it didn't feel so familiar....