How can our life succeed??

adminonDecember 9, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The Evangelical Church in the Rhineland continued its synod on Monday with an appeal to the Middle East from Nikolaus Schneider. Earlier, in an interview with this site, the praeses had already presented the main points of his report. The central question is "How can our lives succeed??"

"Hate and murder" in the Middle East must be deprived of religious legitimacy, Schneider says. This could be "the decisive impetus for a new beginning," Schneider told the Rhineland state synod in Bad Neuenahr on Monday. From the Jewish side, he said, he knew that a meeting of the highest religious authorities on both sides was quite possible.A new beginning can only succeed, however, if Hamas recognizes Israel's right to exist and "if Israel ends the permanent state violations of rights and humiliations against the Palestinians," emphasized the 61-year-old theologian, who is also a member of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The attacks on the Gaza Strip lead to humanitarian catastrophes for the inhabitants. "Neither security nor peace will Israel achieve in this way."Schneider at the same time showed understanding for Israel's "tragic" situation. There is no denying that Hamas rocket attacks on targets in Israel would continue "if Israel kept quiet". The top representative of the 2.9 million Rhenish Protestants appealed to the international community to guarantee Israel's security and to vigorously promote Palestine's economic and social development. Progress in ecumenism Schneider sees the dialogue between the two major churches in Germany on a good path. "In spite of all ecumenical irritation, it cannot be overlooked that the fellowship of Christian denominations is more self-evident in everyday practice than ever before."In many areas, such as development cooperation or the joint celebration of church services, there is "a great deal of familiarity and respect among us". At the same time, Schneider complained that the churches had not always adequately addressed important theological debates. This is perhaps also a consequence of the modern media society, according to the president. Supposed unique selling points are often more interesting "than the laborious attempts to discover and promote commonalities". Schneider criticized the workings of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva. The body is "shaken by orthodox obstinacy, organizational weaknesses and challenged by charismatic movements and Pentecostal churches.". The Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC, but has maintained close contacts with the council since the 1960s.

Regional synod recalls founding The Evangelical Church in the Rhineland commemorated its founding 60 years ago with an "Evening of Encounter" on Sunday evening in Bad Neuenahr, Germany. On 9. On November 1948, the deputies of the Rhineland Provincial Synod in Velbert near Dusseldorf passed a resolution to constitute themselves as the "Regional Synod of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland," as Wuppertal historian Volkmar Wittmutz explained to the synod currently in session. This marked the separation from the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union and the step from a church province to an independent church.A "Rhenish inclination toward independence" and rejection of the authoritarian structures, centralism and authority orientation of the Prussian church had already existed since the Weimar Republic, Wittmutz noted. In view of the ecclesiastical "state of emergency" after the war, the opportunity then arose to implement such endeavors. At the church assembly in Treysa in August 1945, the church provinces were given the right to govern themselves.

First state synod with Gustav Heinemann The first regional synod of the Rhenish Church, which included the mayor of Essen and later German President Gustav Heinemann, passed a church leadership law in Velbert in 1948. It became the basis for the church constitution adopted in 1952, which, among other things, enshrines the presbyterial-synodal principle. The first president was the Essen pastor Heinrich Held (1897-1957), a prominent representative of the Confessing Church.The highest governing body of the Rhenish church is the regional synod, which, after initially changing meeting places, has been meeting annually in Bad Neuenahr, Rhineland-Palatinate, since 1975. In addition to elections and church laws, current historical or political topics have always been on the agenda over the past 60 years. Discussions were held on rearmament and nuclear armament, the anti-racism program, social commitment in the world of work, "political night prayers," projects for the unemployed, the peace ie and environmental problems or the blessing of homosexual couples. The Rhenish Church played a pioneering role in the redefinition of the relationship between Christians and Jews.Today, the Rhenish Church is the second-largest of Germany's 22 Protestant regional churches, with nearly 2.9 million members. It still extends between Emmerich and Saarbrucken over the territory of the former Prussian Rhine Province. The 773 church congregations in 40 church districts are located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse. Since 2003, the Rhenish church has been led by Praeses Nikolaus Schneider.

What image of people with disabilities is conveyed in the media?? Still a much too one-sided and cliche-laden, finds the activist for disability rights, Raul Krauthausen. He demands more courage from those responsible.

CBA: What upsets you most when it comes to the media and disabled people??

Raul Krauthausen (disability rights activist): I am annoyed when people with disabilities appear in films, but played by non-disabled actors or actresses. It's like in the old days when white actors were painted black to play blacks.
CBA: And in the reporting?
Krauthausen: I am often bothered by the fact that disability is always mentioned, even if the person is a scientist, for example, and it is actually about a completely different topic. In the process, the diagnosis is also often presented in great detail, which I sometimes find encroaching.

In addition, I find it annoying that disabled people appear in the reporting mainly when it is about scandals: When authorities or companies discriminate against them or there is a medical sensation. People with disabilities are very often portrayed as victims or as medical objects and rarely as people who are simply engaged in an activity and where the disability is told in a completely casual way.

CBA: How do you see broadcasts that have a very explicit focus on disability??
Krauthausen: I see this as a kind of service broadcast. About the same category as a car show. That's just looking at who is particularly interested in it.
CBA: If you were a program director at a broadcaster, what would you change??
Krauthausen: I would not hire people with disabilities simply to meet a given quota. I would equip the editorial offices with disabled people, as reporters, as editors, and not only use them in the archives, the canteen or in the janitorial area, as has been the rule up to now.
CBA: How is accessibility developing in the media in Germany in the meantime??
Krauthausen: There are already some offerings for the various target groups in the form of audio description, subtitles, sign language and easy-to-understand language. Public broadcasters do more than private broadcasters, not least because they are obliged to do so – but still: There could be much more in Germany. The English BBC, for example, has now completely subtitled its broadcasts.
CBA: What are the requirements for reporting on people with disabilities without prejudice?
Krauthausen: I always give journalists the following tip: If you see someone with a disability and find them interesting as a protagonist, try to look at the disability like a hair color. And if you want to mention the disability, you sort of cross-check it. If one were to formulate a sentence like: "Despite the blond hair, he/she bravely masters his/her own fate."The decisive factor is always: Is the disability relevant to the topic of the report at all??
CBA: A few years ago you founded the platform Leidmedien.de was founded to provide journalists with assistance for unbiased reporting. Does it work?

Krauthausen: In the beginning, we only provided wording aids and showed that neutral language can already make a difference. Instead of writing "is confined to a wheelchair," simply write "is confined to a wheelchair". We then received more and more requests from journalists who wanted more linguistic reflection. This is how we researched and expanded our service offering. Now there are workshops, theme services, interview tips and handouts to avoid putting your foot in your mouth…

CBA: One keyword here is "disability mainstreaming" – can you explain that??
Krauthausen: The idea behind this is to sensitize the social and media mainstream to such an extent that disabled people simply appear more self-evident and self-confident.

For example, as moderators and presenters, or as experts on topics that have nothing to do with disability. Due to improved training opportunities in recent decades, more and more people with disabilities are also making careers and have something to say publicly. In addition, it is simply no longer in keeping with the times to regard the disabled person only as a problem child. But he or she is someone who, for example, also likes to have sex – still a very big taboo subject.

CBA: Do you see positive developments?

Krauthausen: There are very big developments in the U.S. and U.K. Germany is still having a hard time. Yes, there are some disabled presenters and moderators – but then they usually only talk about disabilities with the target group of disabled people. Of course, people stay in their own bubble.

But why is there no poor-amputee reporter at the Olympics, for example, who asks the athletes questions?? I think, there one would have to develop strengthened and purposefully people with handicaps journalistically, so that they are simply more strongly medially present and the whole becomes a larger matter of course.

The interview was conducted by Karin Wollschlager.

In 2019, the two large churches lost more than 540.000 members lost. The erosion of popular churches is progressing rapidly. "There's nothing to sugarcoat," said the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Georg Batzing.

For the first time as chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Limburg Bishop Georg Batzing has to comment on the annual statistics of church departures. And then such a hammer.

The erosion of the two large popular churches has accelerated. From a high level the previous year (216.000), the number of people leaving the Catholic Church has once again jumped to 272.771 increased. An increase of 26.2 percent over the previous year. That is also far more than the previous high of over 217.000 from 2014: At that time, the abuse scandal, the financial affair surrounding Limburg Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, and changes in church tax collection had led to high losses.

But the Protestant churches are not spared the negative trend either: they also recorded around 270.000 resignations, 22.3 percent more than in 2018 (around 220.000). For the first time, the total number of church departures exceeds the threshold of 500.000 – and clearly so.

Demographic problem

It is also clear, however, that the number of people leaving is only one factor: Both churches also have a demographic problem. The number of funerals is far higher than the number of baptisms, and admissions. The Catholic Church lost around 400,000 members in 2019.000 members in 2019 and still has 22.6 million members. A total of around 43.3 million Germans still belong to one of the two major churches – that's just over 52 percent.

"The number of people leaving the church shows that the alienation between church members and a life of faith in the church community has become even stronger," said Batzing. The declining values in the reception of the sacraments also showed an "erosion of personal church loyalty".

There are few concrete reliable findings about the motives for leaving the church. It stands to reason that among Catholics, the abuse scandal is one of the causes. In September 2018, the bishops had published the study, which examined the extent of sexual abuse between 1946 to 2014. In it, there was evidence of nationwide 3.677 victims of sexual assaults by Catholic clergymen. By the end of 2018, the number of people leaving the church had already increased significantly as a result, as random samples showed.

It is unclear why the Protestant churches are also following the trend. Abuse cases in their ranks play a much smaller role in the public eye. It is possible, however, that many German citizens no longer distinguish so much between the two churches.

And now the Corona crisis

Beyond the abuse scandal, however, there are other reasons as well. For example, in a study published in 2018, the Diocese of Essen had found that a long path of alienation, coupled with doubts about faith, were the main reasons for people leaving the church. Sexual morals in particular are felt to be outdated, as are the church's image of women and celibacy. But here, too, the question arises as to why the Protestant churches not affected by this are losing out just as badly.

Last year, in a study of the churches, the Freiburg financial scientist Bernd Raffelhuschen predicted that by 2060 both the number of members and the church tax revenue will fall by about half.

What is exciting now is how the Corona crisis will affect the numbers. Dioceses and Protestant regional churches expect sharp declines in church taxes. It is also conceivable that the economic crisis will cause even more citizens to turn their backs on the churches.

The increase in the number of people leaving also suggests that the reform process that the Catholic Church began with the Synodal Way is still having little effect. Batzing ared that the current figures will be brought into the reform process. The church must regain trust through transparency and honesty. "This is not about chasing a zeitgeist," he ared. But the church must recognize the signs of the times and "interpret them in the light of the Gospel," said the Limburg bishop.

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