Source: Deutsche Welle

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1602805,00.html

On June 1, 2005 Deutsche Welle reported, "The administrative court of Düsseldorf dismissed a complaint brought by two Muslim parents from Wuppertal who wanted to keep their son out of a co-ed school swimming class in a landmark case. The deeply religious Muslim parents of the 11-year-old student were trying to prevent their son from attending swimming classes, where he would mix with girls in bathing suits. They filed a complaint in a Düsseldorf court against school officials. But the court rejected their case, saying that religious beliefs are not a reason to prevent children from attending swimming classes and said that the boy must attend them in the future. It was not easy for the court to reach such a decision, Chief Judge Uwe Sievers said during the proceedings. 'Religious convictions stand, in this case, against the duty of the school,' he said. 'But it is not the task of this court to challenge the Quran. Instead, we have to try to reconcile both interests.' Initially, the parents had repeatedly requested that their son be excused from school swimming lessons that both boy and girls took part in. They called such activities 'a dangerous influence on the emotional world of young people.' The Quran dictates that children over the age of 10 should be segregated by gender."