By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
SWEDEN, June 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two members of Sweden's Liberal Party are proposing to force students to take the country's sexual education courses in public schools, even against the will of their parents, according to the English language Swedish news service, The Local.
In an opinion article written in the Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter, Liberal Party ministers Jan Björklund and Nyamko Sabuni argue that “All pupils, including immigrant girls, have the right to swimming lessons and to take part in physical and sexual education classes … regardless of whether the parents like it or not.”
In a thinly-veiled reference to Sweden's growing Muslim population, which often rejects the loose sexual morality of European society, the two ministers argue that “The will of the girls is often subordinated to what is considered to be the best interests of the family; the men's, or the group's, 'honor' based on the girl's sexual behaviour.”
However, such a measure would also affect the nation's Christians. According to The Local, the existing right to exempt one's children from such classes was established in the 1950s to protect the religious rights of Catholic and Jewish Swedes who wished to exempt themselves from Protestant classes The right to an exemption was reaffirmed in the 1960s and 1980s.
The ministers wrote their article in response to a Stockholm University study that revealed that 10% of students refuse to participate in sexual education classes, and other activities offensive to their religious beliefs.
“Taken to its extreme the oppression is a direct threat to the child's life, but even if it does not go to such drastic lengths it almost always violates the child's fundamental rights,” they write.
Related Links:
Ministers argue girls' right to sex ed
https://www.thelocal.se/19778/20090531/