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Most Christians in Germany have been doing something natural for centuries. But church members are leaving. The Catholic and Protestant churches have yet to find answers, says Christoph Strack.
This is a symbolic historical moment: only less than half of Germans belong to one of the two major Christian churches. The so-called popular churches, which for a long time were called “big churches”, with about 41 million believers, no longer gather the majority of the 83 million people living in Germany.
In 1990 there were 58 million church members in Germany, about two-thirds of the population. Today, in addition to Catholics and Protestants, there are 4.5 million Muslims, 1.5 million Orthodox Christians and over 100,000 Jews living in Germany. And the largest new religious buildings currently being erected in Berlin are a representative Buddhist temple and the House of One, as the common roof of Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Ethics advice instead of churches
The declining membership trend affects both Protestants and Catholics alike, and the Reformation churches even more. In both denominations there are many reasons for this move. Once upon a time there was an increase in the cost of solidarity. Then the church looked politically very left or very right. And sometimes the cause is ecclesiastical positions in the field of sexual morality or major scandals like that of child sexual abuse. Finally, some waves of departures may be associated with certain names of some bishops or other persons, such as in Cologne.
But very rarely among the departures is mentioned the distancing of persons from the church itself, although it can also be heard about the removal of engaged persons who have worked voluntarily. More like we have lost each other. The sense of religion and belief or even the sense of religion and belief is evaporating. Not because everyone has just started studying philosophy like crazy, or because the world thinks it can now answer any questions with Google or some ethical advice.
And yet the trend is dramatic at a time when big questions arise. Meaningful questions. 20 years ago was the decoding of the human genome and advances in stem cell research. Today is artificial intelligence, the dramatic challenge of climate change, the fundamental issues of global and national justice at a time when resource resources are dwindling. Unfortunately, social ethics, this very important function, does not have the greatest importance in the churches.
Departure waves
And now even the long torturous pandemic, which many experts see as a vanguard of future challenges, can be counted among them. All of these are meaningful questions, where any answer is expected. And when people no longer have any expectations from the churches, they look for answers or ways of salvation elsewhere.
Therefore, a somewhat vague religious benevolence that some experts see growing, can not be seen as promising. The written form of the educated religion makes sense because it opposes radicalization and egocentrism.
But both the Catholic and the Protestant side must emerge from defensive positions and place different accents. In Corona’s vocabulary it would probably say, they have to come out before the new wave. Continuing the status quo does not help.
This includes coping with responsibilities – real coping. As systems of power that churches still see, they are rightly always under scrutiny. And this turns to anger when power turns to ignorance and delusion.
Calling on God alone is not enough
This includes representatives who look trustworthy and with whom people can identify. This also includes an intellectual profile and the courage to pursue educational institutions in which the spirit, including the spirit of faith in God, shines. But calling on God alone is not enough if God is used as an authority for power.
People today seek spiritual care everywhere. At the time of Corona and especially at Christmas time the work of spiritual counseling by telephone flourished. The so-called emergency chaplains are always active in every major disaster. They do not always have to do with churches. But they show that spiritual care is more about sharing suffering and burden than just explaining to a moral institution what should or should not be done. But do churches still have the power to do this?
If so, then churches should not be afraid. Perhaps a look at East Germany helps, in those parts of Germany where Christians have been a small minority for many decades. There you will now find more believers who have no problem expressing their faith./DW
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