Bruno Groening Circle of Friends

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The Bruno Groening Circle of Friends is a community of followers of the alleged spiritual healer Bruno Groening (1906-1959), according to their own statements, "one of the largest worldwide associations for healing on the spiritual path". The central statement is: "There is a higher power that is the basis of all living things and can give healing."

The Freundeskreis is registered as a non-profit association with charity at the district court in Siegburg as a group for natural help in life and, according to its own statements, wants to continue the work of Bruno Groening and spread his ideas. To this end, he conducts information events and regular regional and national meetings. He has also made two documentaries that have been translated into many languages ​​and whose trailers are regularly shown at information events for the association.

Critics, however, have long accused the association of being a sect . The study commission report of the German Bundestag "So-called sects and psycho groups" classified it in 1998 as "sect-like".

organization

The association that supports the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends is called the Circle for Natural Living Aid eV and was created in 1979 by splitting off from the Association for the Promotion of Spiritual, Spiritual and Natural Basics of Life in Germany, founded in 1958 by Bruno Groening . V. Its founder was Grete Häusler (1922–2007), who had known Bruno Gröning since 1950 and who managed the association until her death. Then her son Dieter Häusler took over the management of the association. Grete Häusler GmbH , which operates a publishing house for print media and film, is closely associated with the association .

The Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends stated that it had 60,000 members in 2,000 circles in around 80 countries (reference year unknown, before 2007). In 2000 the Catholic Church estimated a number of around 30,000 interested people in 550 communities ("circles") and stated in 2009 that this number "continues to increase". More recent figures are not known.

After the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends deleted passages about Jesus and his teachings from Groening's works with consideration for followers of non-Christian religions, the Association of Information Circle : Life and Teaching of Bruno Groening eV split off. He supports the Bruno Gröning Foundation , which puts numerous original documents online in which Gröning refers to Christianity.

financing

In the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends, according to their own information, no entrance fees, membership fees or other financial claims are charged. The association supports itself through donations and voluntary, unpaid work. In Grete Häusler GmbH there is no wage, no profit skimming or the like, not even for Dieter Häusler, the head of the entire plant.

Relationship to medicine

According to the example of Bruno Groening, illnesses are neither diagnosed nor treated in the Freundeskreis. Visits to the doctor and medical prescriptions are not advised against. According to Gröning, every healing is an act of grace from God. That is why there is no promise of healing in the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends.

According to the Circle of Friends, "a few thousand doctors and other health professionals" have come together to form the Medical and Scientific Expert Group (MWF) in order to review and document the postulated healing successes. Her motto is: " There is no such thing as incurable!"

However, the medical community does not recognize these reports as they evade scientific verification.

Relationship to the Church

The Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends does not see itself as a church and calls on its members: "Everyone should stay in his church".

The Catholic Church describes the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends as an esoteric worldview in which the question of salvation and redemption is reduced to the question of health and illness. She criticizes that Bruno Groening takes on the function of mediator to God there, who thus takes the place of Jesus Christ. This cannot be reconciled with the Christian worldview.

The Protestant churches are also hostile to the Freundeskreis. The United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) judges that the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends makes the “false claim to be able to cure every disease (...). By unconditionally adhering to the teachings of Bruno Groening, it would be ... possible to make the divine healing current effective for those affected without a doubt. Thus, through the mediator Bruno Gröning, people are given the opportunity to be or become free from illness. ”Such claims are neither credible nor provable. The VELKD particularly criticizes the group's approach to blaming a failure to heal as a matter of principle "due to the doubts of the sick themselves or those around them". This “usually leads to high psychological pressure on the sick and to profound disturbances of the relationships in their environment. This conception, which has a destructive effect, must be vigorously opposed. It must be shown as ruthless and loveless. "

criticism

In particular, doctors, church representatives and affected family members criticize the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends:

  • Healing seekers are given false hopes by statements and promises and they are thus kept from necessary doctor visits, which in some cases means an acute danger to their lives.
  • In teaching it is propagated that only those who become or remain healthy who believe firmly enough and live according to the rules of the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends are said to be. Critical thoughts and attitudes of family members and friends are negative energies which hinder healing. This may lead to isolation and an ever stronger bond with the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends. Family ties, marriages and friendships would be abandoned.
  • If there is no cure, the blame will be put on those seeking help, whose belief in Gröning was not firm enough.
  • The personality cult around the figure of Groening promotes the emergence of dependencies and the lack of criticism towards the statements of the circle of friends.

“But it is not the members of Scientology that are most widespread in Saarland. Rather, so-called esoteric groups are becoming increasingly popular. They are of great concern to the cult expert. The Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends is an example of this "

- Matthias Neff : Esoteric groups take care of Trier sect experts , in: Saarbrücker Zeitung , February 4, 2008

Peace Pole Award

The World Peace Prayer Society (WPPS) presented the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends with the Peace Pole Award on May 23, 2013.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends (own representation)
  2. ↑ Stefan Grothues: Churches warn of the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends , muensterlandzeitung.de, April 10, 2010, accessed on October 25, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c Diocese of Trier: A controversial esoteric spiritual healer group: The Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends , last edited January 12, 2009
  4. ^ Split- off association: Information group: Life and teaching of Bruno Gröning e. V. (lower third: "How did the association come about"?)
  5. ^ Bruno Gröning Foundation with a collection of numerous original documents
  6. ↑ Non-profit - The “Circle for Natural Living Aid eV” is recognized as non-profit and benevolent , bruno-groening.org, accessed on January 4, 2020.
  7. ↑ Cooperation with doctors - The Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends is not a substitute for a doctor's visit , bruno-groening.org, accessed on January 4, 2020.
  8. ↑ Doctors take a stand. Statements from doctors about healing on the spiritual path. Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends, accessed on January 30, 2019 .
  9. ^ Evangelical Information Center Switzerland: Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends , last change 1998
  10. ↑ Handbook of Religious Communities. Published on behalf of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD) by Hans Krech and Matthias Kleiminger. 6., rework. and exp. Edition Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2006, ISBN 3-579-03585-1 , p. 419
  11. ↑ Handbook of Religious Communities. Published on behalf of the VELKD by Hans Krech and Matthias Kleiminger. 6th edition Gütersloh 2006, p. 420.
  12. ↑ PEACE POLE AWARDED AT UNITED NATIONS TO THE BRUNO GRÖNING CIRCLE OF FRIENDS ON MAY 23. In: May Peace Prevail On Earth International. July 2, 2013, Retrieved November 29, 2019 (American English).