TRIER, Germany (RNS/ENI) Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit has accused Germany’s highest Protestant cleric of polarizing voters during a city referendum on Sunday (April 26) that would have reintroduced religious instruction in public schools.

The referendum, which was soundly defeated, was promoted by a group called Pro-Reli that was supported by both Catholic and Protestant churches, the Central Council of Jews, a Turkish Muslim umbrella body and community groups.

In a Monday interview on German radio, Wowereit welcomed the measure’s defeat, saying he believed it strengthened integration, but remained critical of Bishop Wolfgang Huber, who chairs the Evangelical Church in Germany.

“The churches themselves should debate whether the course of polarization, set by especially Bishop Huber of the Evangelical Church in Berlin, was right,” Wowereit said. “I believe that the churches were altogether damaged. And when one sees that only 14 percent voted yes, that is only a fraction of the members of the Evangelical Church in Berlin.”

In most of Germany’s 16 federal states, students receive instruction according to their Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Muslim faith. Those not belonging to any religious group may choose ethics.

Berlin and Bremen were the exceptions to the rule since the 1920s. Until 2006, religion and ethics were taught as equal subjects in Berlin schools, but secular ethics became compulsory while religion became optional.

Berlin is home to Germany’s largest Muslim and Jewish communities and has a long secular tradition. During the heated campaign, the supporters of the compulsory ethics classes argued that allowing children to choose between ethics or religion lessons would actually result in less integration.

A Turkish Muslim group that was part of the Pro-Reli Campaign argued that state-sponsored lessons about Islam would help guard against radical groups who might try to lure young Muslims into religious extremism.

A spokesperson for Huber declined to comment on the mayor’s remarks, but Huber later issued a statement saying, “The huge (voting) differences between the Eastern and Western parts of the city showed that this city is still divided. We all now have the responsibility to overcome this division.”

The head of Germany’s Catholic bishops, Archbishop Robert Zollistch, said in a statement that although the referendum was lost, it also had its positive aspects: “Never before were belief and religion so explicitly present in the streets and in the debates of this city. The cooperation between Christians, Jews and Muslims achieved attention countrywide and proved that mutual understanding and joint political action is possible.”