Hello to everyone,

I am seeking help to defend my family, legally, in Germany, against discrimination for wanting to raise our child in the Christian faith.

Since I am new here so allow me to introduced myself: I am Italian, 53, married to a kind Russian wife with a sweet 4 y.o. daughter and we live in Naples, Italy.

A German website that offers a platform to find babysitters, blocked our profile because we expressed the desire to hire a girl, of any religion, as long as she would help us raise our child in the Christian tradition and would not present behaviours in conflict with our beliefs. We were at blocked and, at first, refused and explanations; subsequently, by phone, we were told that our profile was oppressive and intolerant.

We seek legal support, in Germany, to challenge this website and get reinstated on their platform as this is the best and only website with a sufficient number of candidates.

I hope that someone can point is in the right direction or, better, offer legal support, in the State of Kessel, in Germany.

Needless to say that the Congregation for the Family in The Vatican was of no help as of no help were also local parishes in Germany.

Thank you in advance for any help,

Tommaso

Dear Nadir,

Thank you for reading and replying to my post.

Firstly, we appreciate your comments but, to the contrary, selection is an extremely challenging process because we seek a live-in babysitter, also known as AuPair who most possesses moral values, educational skills and perfect command of the English language (native English speaker), as we live in Italy. This website lists about 55,000 candidates while the next best website only lists 1,200.

Secondly we believe in doing our part by rising up to the challenge by confronting this discrimnation. We cannot complain that our Faith is being diluted if we are not willing to engage individually and wait that others do so for us. Each one of us must embrace the fray and defend our values.

Do you know any civil rights support centres in Germany who would take up the case? Can you help us fight this battle?

Tommaso
+ IHSV

Dear Tdrev123,

Thank you for taking your time to read and reply to my post.

My wife has actually chosen to give up her job, to raise our daughter, as a full time mother and she oversees our AuPair who is therefore not responsible for imparting morality but, exclusively, English language. However, we are still extreemely cautious of what values we expose our daughter to and, hence, who we invite to live in our household which, in turn, requires a large number of interviews only possible on this website.

My wife does not speak fluent English and I am not at home all day. Our goal is to empower our daughter with English skills, at native level, and this cannot be achieved at school or with afternoon classes. All scientific literature concord on the need for (a) necessity of use of a particular language, (b) sufficent exposure to it and (c) early start, to attain native level.

In Europe private businesses can NOT act motivated by religious discrimination. Regardless of the concern and the action, when a discriminatory motive underlies a behaviour, this can not only be sanctioned commercially and in a civil court but can also carry extremely serious criminal penalties. I understand that in the US individuals and companies are free to act as they prefer but in Europe they/we are not. Different countries. Different circuмstances.

Since I recorded the motives in the phone call, I believe that I may have a valid case.

Finally I appreciate that you hold different perspectives which I respect but by attacking my wife, Europeans' in general or me, personally, you are not going to make your advice more convincing. Especially since you proposed your views before knowing all the facts.

Perhaps you may want to consider that by using forceful language one does not always offend the recipient as much as himself because, by doing so, one exposes how one was raised and educated.

Regardless, I appreciate that you took your time to comment but I encourage you to continue doing so only if you have something useful to say otherwise it may be more productive for the thread and the community if you were to avoid non pertinent or non useful posts.

Tommaso