Karlsruhe - Parents in Germany cannot use religion as a reason to exempt children from sex education lessons, the country's high court ruled on Thursday.

The decision came in a case brought by the Baptist parents of two children from the region of East Westphalia.

The religious parents had been fined 80 euros (115 dollars) for keeping their children at home during a school theatre project on the subject of sexual abuse, and during a carnival event.

Compulsory school attendance took priority, the ruling said, in those situations where the school preserved neutral and tolerant values which opposed the educational expectations of parents.

Germany has stringent laws on compulsory school attendance, which outlaw home education as well as opt-outs from specific subjects on religious or cultural grounds. (dpa)