Posted on 04/30/2018 8:46:03 AM PDT by ebb tide
Cardinal Reinhard Marx has said directing all state buildings to hang crosses amounts to "expropriating the cross in the name of the state." Bavarian Premier Markus Söder sparked nationwide criticism for the move.
The head of the German Bishops' Conference has sharply criticized the premier of the southern German state of Bavaria for ordering Christian crosses to be hung in all state buildings.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx told German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Monday that Premier Markus Söder's order had sparked public "division, unrest and animosity."
Söder issued the directive — set to enter into force on June 1 — on Wednesday. On Twitter, he wrote that the cross was a "clear avowal of our Bavarian identity and Christian values."
Read more: 6 facts about Catholic and Protestant influence in Germany
'Expropriating the cross'
Söder said the order did not break constitutional rules about religious neutrality because the cross was a symbol of the state's "identity" rather than religion.
Bavaria is one of the most Catholic regions of Germany. More than 50 percent of the population identified as Roman Catholic in 2016.
But Marx, who is based in the Bavarian capital, Munich, suggested Söder did not understand the true meaning of the cross.
"You don't understand the cross if you only see it as a cultural symbol," Marx said. Söder's order, he added, had amounted to "expropriating the cross in the name of the state."
Read more: Germany's conservative CSU puts on 'Harmony Show'
Not the first
Marx's rebuke follows public criticism from other religious leaders and politicians in Germany.
The head of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP), Christian Lindner, wrote on Twitter: "The way Markus Söder and the CSU constantly exploit religion for their party politics is reminiscent of [Turkish President Recep] Erdogan. The constitution has no religion!"
Söder, who assumed office in March, leads a conservative government under the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Claudia Roth, a Green party lawmaker and vice president of the German parliament, accused Söder of marginalizing millions of Muslims, atheists and Jews. "[He] intentionally mixes religion and politics," she said.
The populist AfD's Betarix von Storch is more worried about what she thinks is "Christianity surrendering" with "Cardinal Marx at the helm," according to a tweet. "He lays down the cross at Temple Mount, and he doesn't want it in public buildings either," she quips, saying that this capitulation is why "Islamization has space" to unfold.
CardinalMarx!!! Say no more!!!
Germany isn’t doomed, Germany is already dead they just don’t know it yet.
Marxist approach to religion involves getting rid of Christianity. Just sayin’.
Now, if Bavaria had homoerotic art everywhere, he’d a been just fine with that.
Personally I think our governments should get back to the Judeo-Christian values that Western civilization was founded on. Am I missing something?
Cardinal Marx, Karl Marx Necessary For Catholic Social Teaching
Considering how many European flags have a cross emblazoned on their standard I think that ship sailed more than a dozen centuries ago cardinal.
I think that would be the best thing that could happen to all concerned.
Maybe they just want to bring back the Swastika.
This Catholic says that Marx is a heretical POS. He and a few other of his German Cardinals are carrying water for the Argentinian Jesuit socialist residing in a hotel inside the Vatican walls.
To quote the late great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen:
“WHO IS GOING TO SAVE OUR CHURCH? NOT OUR BISHOPS, NOT OUR PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS. IT IS UP TO THE PEOPLE. YOU HAVE THE MINDS, THE EYES, THE EARS TO SAVE THE CHURCH. YOUR MISSION IS TO SEE THAT YOUR PRIESTS ACT LIKE PRIESTS, YOUR BISHOPS, LIKE BISHOPS, AND YOUR RELIGIOUS ACT LIKE RELIGIOUS.”
Tar & feathers for this cleric.
What a bigot.
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