BERLIN – Berlin holds a referendum Sunday that has sent tempers flaring and which is as much about the integration of Germany's Muslims as it is what role God – or indeed Allah – has in the classroom.

Germany's biggest city, described by one sociologist as "the world capital of atheism", got a wake-up call in 2005 with an honour killing in its large Muslim community of a woman by her brother because of her secular lifestyle.

Shocked by how such a crime could occur in the capital city of a country that aspires to be a modern, multicultural success story, its left-wing town hall decided that schoolchildren needed a lesson in ethics.

The idea was to foster common values in schools in a city where over 40 percent of children come from immigrant families, most of them Muslims, and nip dangerous radicalism in the bud.

Germany, which opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq but has around 3,700 troops in Afghanistan under NATO command, has managed to escape terror attacks by Islamic radicals but authorities take the threat very seriously.

The result of the honour killing of Hatun Surucu were ethics classes introduced in 2006-7 that all secondary school children – from whatever background – in Berlin have to attend.

Beforehand, children could take voluntary religious education classes like pupils in the rest of Germany, but these were poorly attended.

But now, many people are angry – angry enough for 265,000 people to sign a petition forcing Sunday's referendum organised by a group known as Pro Reli that wants a choice between ethics classes and religious education.

Pro Reli – "Reli" being the nickname among German kids for religious education classes – that the whole idea behind the compulsory ethics classes is wrong-headed.

"A compulsory ethics lesson, imposed by the state, shows a lack of tolerance," Pro Reli says.

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