Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Bishop’s sex education remarks criticised

The bishop of the diocese of Basel, Felix Gmür, has spoken out against a controversial statement about sex education by the bishop of Chur, Vitus Huonder.

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

Gmür, a member of the liberal wing of Switzerland’s Roman Catholic church, was responding to a letter from Huonder on the occasion of Human Rights Day on Saturday.

In the letter, the bishop of Chur said parents should have the right to have their children exempted from sex education classes in school.

Huonder also said that divine law comes before human rights.

In an interview published on Sunday on the German-language pages of swissinfo.ch, former Federal Court president Giusep Nay said Huonder’s statement reflected an attempt to deny Catholics their human rights.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR