PARIS (RNS) Once divided by communism, Berliners are now split over faith as they head to the polls Sunday (April 26) to consider whether to offer public school students the choice of taking religion or ethics classes.

Until now, ethics courses have been mandatory for students in the German capital, thanks to a 2006 measure introduced out of concern about Muslim radicalism after an honor killing of a Turkish girl the year before. By contrast religion classes have been optional, making Berlin an exception in Germany, where most states include them in the public school curriculum.

The “pro-reli” lobby is pushing voters to change the system and offer students the choice between religion or ethics classes. Supporters argue greater knowledge of religion fosters greater tolerance. They also claim it would allow German authorities to teach a more benevolent brand of Islam to the city’s mainly Turkish Muslims than what some imams might preach.

The pro-ethics camp however argues that religion classes, with each faith taught separately, risk deepening divisions rather than erasing them.

The religious debate seems out of place in a city where six out of 10 residents claim not to practice any religion — partially a relic, at least in east Berlin, of decades of communism.

Still, this secular sentiment is echoed across Europe — as is the debate about the place of religion in public education.

In Spain, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero rolled back a measure by the previous conservative government to make religion classes compulsory, backing optional ones instead.

In France, the government banned students in 2004 from wearing conspicuous symbols of their faith to school — such as the Jewish yarmulke or the Muslim headscarf. Last year, French students also stopped attending Saturday morning classes — a leftover from an era when they made up for time spent in catechism classes on Wednesdays.