Germans reconsider religion

Christian Science Monitor ^ | September 15, 2006 | Christa Case

[Schweinhund]

Also, he asked if Rationalism and the New Sciences, which were created by men, but had unforseeably killed God in their hearts, would not ultimately force these men to become Gods themselves, just to appear worthy of their deed. This is one of the basics on which he founds his transhuman, his Übermensch.

[AnAmericanMother]

What you need is the "quickie Mass" - early morning or in the evening, just right at half an hour (no music and only two readings). If there's a church near your job, you can go on your lunch hour to the noon Mass, which is also very short. I did that every day last year during Lent.

Of course, I don't have a real killer of a job any more . . . used to work 70 hour weeks, but that was when I was young and crazy.

[Publius]

Luther was a Benedictine.

Luther was an Augustinian. Like the pope.

[Publius]

What you need is the "quickie Mass" -

In the pre-Vatican II days, it was called the "Irish Mass". In and out in 20 minutes. You could read along with your missal, say a rosary, or nod off.

My late father was very fond of the Irish Mass because he could get his weekly ticket punched and move on. With the arrival of the mass in English, he would position himself nearest to the door so he could be the first one out when the priest said, "The mass is ended."

When he died 9 years ago, there was some debate as to whether his ashes would be within the sanctuary or not. (The local bishop made it the option of the pastor.) My mother decided that in order for us to be true to him, we would place his ashes immediately by the door.

[Prost1]

Thank you...You have it right.

[zerosix]

Doesn't answer it all.

Merkle was born and grew up in East Germany under the Godless Communism. After the fall of the Wall, Christian Missionaries have been flocking inside, (as well as to other Soviet satellites) thus generations born after Stalin takeover, who never had been exposed to faith except faith of government (which they new was never to be trusted) embraced not only freedom and democratic forms of government but also are flocking to Evangelical congregations springing up as a result of American Evangelical Missionaries.

These are the people and countries that President Bush refers to as "The New Europe" as opposed to "The Old (still atheistic) Europe.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Actually, according to this site, Protestants outnumber Roman Catholics in Germany 43% to 34%.

Regardless, looks like progress to me.

[Malesherbes]

Good comment. And Nietzsche's notion of a Superman as described in Also Sprach Zarathustra was a vain attempt to fill the void which he feared would have the consequences you mentioned. When Dostoyevsky wrote, "If there is no God, then everything is permitted," this set the scene for the 20th century.

I watched Angela Merkel on TV at the dedication of the rebuilt Frauenkirche in Dresden. She sang all the hymns without looking at the hymnal. I took this as a good sign.

[pepsionice]

It is a bit amusing to read this story...while I've lived in Germany for 13 years...and see a dwindling population interested in any church activities whatsoever. And the church tax...which is required unless you deny your religion...is a major hinderance to regular people. My wife and I ended up tossing $900 into a tax pot last year...mandatory unless you say no. Of course, after you say no...then no church wedding or funerals for you. In recent years, alot of private chapels have popped up and arrange your funeral service for you...so people stop the tax contribution and just settle for a $1000 fee at the end to cover your funeral service.

Merkel may have grasped how the general public is quiting the church tax, and trying to convince the "flock" to go back.

[karnage]

Oops. Apparently it's been longer than I thought since I read his bio...

[Schweinhund]

Actually, Merkel was born in Hamburg as the son of a protestant pastor who moved to the DDR in 1954 to preach there.

And while you are correct that the commie government was not all too fond of religion and persecuted the Christian Churches which still had strong connections to West Germany, the Church stayed an important factor in the DDR.

[A. Pole]

"German public life has a kind of intuitive sense in the wake of WWII that you can't have a world without moral reference points, or you get you-know-what," Mr. Weigel explains.

He points to the recent shift of Jürgen Habermas, one of Germany's foremost philosophers, as evidence of the potential for a rethinking of the public role of religion. A professed secularist who has spent nearly half a century arguing against religiously informed moral argument, he made some arresting statements in his 2004 essay, "A Time of Transition."

"Christianity, and nothing else," he wrote, "is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of western civilization. To this day, we have no other options [to Christianity]. We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter."

Excellent find!

[Mount Athos]

Funny you should single that quote out, I was thinking about it all yesterday

[RightWhale]

Same as in America, religion is still there, the churches are still there. The infrastructure has been maintained for the day that everybody looks up from their TV football games and notices the building over there and asks what that is.

[zerosix]

Thanks for the correction. I thought that Merkle's father was or had been a pastor and had lived in the DDR but forgot that she had been born in Hamburg. What a wonderful story of her father choosing to live with the family to minister to the poor souls trapped in the DDR.

God is at work everywhere even in the darkest corners of the world. Blessings in His name.

[Gumdrop]

I thought M. Luther was an Augustinian, not a Benedictine.

[AnAmericanMother]

No wonder Monsignor stands by the narthex door with a stopwatch . . . he's Irish! Mass had better not go longer than 59 minutes and 30 seconds, or he'll be on us like white on rice . . .

That's him on the far right . . . on the far left is the brother of the late lamented FReeper BCM . . . of "kiss my royal Irish . . . " fame.

[karnage]

Geez! Corrected twice on the same thread!

[kosta50]

Don't get your hopes up. The one third the CSM doesn't mention are atheists/agnostics, some 23 million of them, or 28% of the population. Of the 33% who are Roman Catholic, only 6% percent attend church regularly, and out of 33% Protestants, only 4% percent.

Not counting Muslims (3%), Jews (0.25%) and other denominations (i.e. non-Germans ethnically, but by citizenship), over 95% of ethnic Germans do not go to church regularly.

Other European countries are similar. In American, 80% of the population claims to be some sort of Christian. Only about 20% of Roman Catholics regularly attend church services. American entertainment and life style is decidedly secular.

In Japan Shinto and Buddhism co-exist harmoniously, yet the majority of the population is a-religious. As one Japanese told me on a train to Tokyo "when you are born, married and when you die" is when you have anything to do with Shinto priests.

What we call progress is somehow very closely associated with secularism. IMO, religion has been reduced to political a garnish and a lip service.

[Chaguito]

Better than nothing. The threat of violent death, out of my control, has a way of making people see that God is better (especially in the long term = ¥) than people, especially "thin-skinned, perpetual- grievance Death Cult" people