German Evangelical Church Congress 2011

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Official logo of the 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress - matching its slogan, two hands that form a heart
Opening service on the "Elbebühne am Königsufer" with a view of the Saxon Ständehaus , Georgentor , Hausmannsturm and Catholic Court Church (from left to right)

The 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress took place in Dresden from June 1st to 5th . The slogan of the big event comes from the Sermon on the Mount , it was in the Kirchentag translation "... your heart will be there too" ( Mt 6.21  ELB ), the Kirchentagssong was written by Bodo Wartke .

The 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress was hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church of Saxony . 2,350 individual events were held for the Kirchentag; A total of 117,957 permanent participants and 26,919 day participants took part. The event site was in the city center on the Elbe . It stretched from the inner old and new town to the Dresden exhibition center .

history

After 1954 and 1997 (both in Leipzig ) this German Evangelical Church Congress was the third in Saxony . In the years 1968, 1975 and 1983, already the place in Dresden Protestant Church in the GDR held, also in 1987 the only Catholics meeting of GDR history and 1994, so far only in the new Lander carried out all-German Catholic Congress .

opening

The Kirchentag opened on the evening of June 1, 2011 with three church services held in parallel, in which a total of 99,000 people took part (70,000 visitors on the Elbwiesen , 17,000 on the Altmarkt and 12,000 on the Neumarkt ).

The evening of the encounter then took place as a street festival between Albertplatz and Altmarkt, in which around 300,000 people took part. The parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church of Saxony designed around 400 stands and eleven stages. The princes , the medlz , the Palucca University for Dance Dresden and 350 miners from the Erzgebirge with a traditional parade were involved in the program of the street festival .

The evening was concluded with a "staging of light and sound" of 150,000 candles in the hands of the visitors on the banks on both sides of the Elbe, 20,000 floating candles on the river, an illumination of the old town facades in the Kirchentag colors magenta and green, and illuminated balloons the Kirchentag slogan and the choral work "... there will be your heart too" by Sven Helbig . The staging culminated in a joint evening blessing with Regional Bishop Jochen Bohl .

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The opening service on Wednesday

Resolutions

A total of six resolutions were passed at the Evangelical Church Congress. This required at least 500 participants on the relevant podium or 3,000 signatures. A total of 15 draft resolutions were proposed, of which the following six have been adopted.

Economy needs alternatives to growth

Emerging from an event on The End of Growth? the Kirchentag unanimously passed a resolution on the economy needs alternatives to growth . The resolution calls for opposition to the misconception of unlimited growth , calls for an end to the coercion of economic growth, a turn away from development models based on economic growth, developing alternatives to economic growth, renouncing and promoting growth neither human rights nor social and to sacrifice ecological interests.

Energy for life - cornerstones of a sustainable energy concept for Germany

Originating from an event on the subject of Fukushima - the end of atomic energy ?! the Kirchentag passed a resolution on the topic of a sustainable energy concept entitled Energy for Life . The resolution was requested by the project management of the Center for Environment and Globalization. It is aimed at the German Bundestag and the German Federal Government and calls for the decommissioning of the remaining German nuclear reactors as soon as possible, by 2017 at the latest, the avoidance of the construction of new coal-fired power plants and the focus on gas-fired power plants with heat utilization. Further demands are decentralized cogeneration of heat and power for the transition to renewable energies, the determined expansion of renewable energies, the reduction of energy consumption and increase in energy efficiency, the reduction of climate-damaging subsidies, e.g. B. in company car taxation, the social and economic shaping of climate change and the participation of society.

“Everyone stays” - against the deportation of Roma to the Republic of Kosovo!

Based on the world and environment of the Market of Opportunities , the Kirchentag passed a resolution entitled All remain . This resolution was requested by Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste , is aimed at the German Bundestag as well as the Synod and Council of the EKD and calls for around 10,000 Roma living in Germany from the Republic of Kosovo to be granted a humanitarian right to stay in Germany.

Strengthening citizen participation - without discriminatory age limits

Based on an event on the subject of courage and anger - getting old is not for cowards - the focus of the Society and Politics program area on getting older was a resolution on strengthening civic participation - without discriminatory age limits . The resolution was requested by the center's project management and is aimed at the Federal President, the President of the German Bundestag, the Chancellor and the parliamentary groups. She calls for "to establish qualified and decision-relevant forms of citizen participation, to ensure sufficient and reliable funding for citizen participation from public budgets [and] to revise discriminatory age limits in public offices."

Room for same-sex ways of life in the church

A resolution on the topic of space for same-sex ways of life in the church was adopted based on the panel “Lesbian-gay ways of life and the Church” in the Theology and Faith program area . The resolution was requested by the project management and is aimed at church leaders, parishes and participants in the Kirchentag. It calls for space for same-sex forms of life to be maintained and created in the parishes and also in pastoral offices.

Preservation of Creation - No Approval for Unconventional Natural Gas Production

Emerging from a meeting on the subject without coal and nuclear - The energy supply of the future in the program area world and environment center globalization and the environment from the Church Congress, a resolution was about the integrity of creation - no permission for unconventional natural gas production adopted. The resolution was requested by Gerhard Niemeyer from Oberhausen and is aimed at the federal government and the authorities responsible for natural gas production. She calls for the upcoming switch from fossil to renewable energy sources not to be used to promote environmentally harmful and high-risk methods of natural gas extraction ( fracking ) , since no reliable knowledge about the risks and consequences is available for these so far. It is requested that no corresponding permits are issued in Germany before relevant knowledge is available and environmental impact assessments and public participation have been carried out.

Closing service

Closing service on both sides of the Elbe with a view of the Neustädter Elbe bank
The Lord's Prayer on the arches of the Augustus Bridge at the closing service

On Sunday, June 5, 2011, the closing service of the 33rd Evangelical Church Congress was held between Augustus and Carolabrücke on both sides of the Elbe with around 120,000 believers. The main theme of the divine service was “Thy kingdom come” ( Mt 6,10  ELB ), its main theme was the Our Father . The collection , which was collected under the motto “Active for human dignity - against right-wing extremist attitudes in church and society”, will benefit the Federal Working Group Church and Right-Wing Extremism - Active for Democracy and Human Rights . The donations are intended to finance a coordination office for Action Reconciliation for a period of three years. The aim of this project is to strengthen the church's public relations work, cooperation and discussion of the phenomenon of right-wing extremism . The collection brought in a total of 131,101.29 euros.

The altar vestments for the central opening and closing service was in the workshop for textile hub Backnang made entirely by hand. The design, which refers to the Kirchentag slogan, comes from the Wehingen artist Gabi Weiß (* 1960), it was realized in 120 working hours by Gaby Belz in picture weaving .

financing

The total budget of the Kirchentag was 14.8 million euros. The Free State of Saxony contributed 5.5 million euros, the City of Dresden 1.96 million euros. A further 400,000 euros were made available by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony contributed 1 million euros. 5.94 million euros were raised through participation fees , sponsoring , merchandising and donations. The organizers only achieved an estimated 3.5 million euros with tickets.

Around seven million euros of the Kirchentag budget were awarded to contracts directly in the Dresden region. It is also estimated that visitors spent around 20 million euros during the church convention.

Controversy

The Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment, Humanism and Religious Freedom eV , Dresden regional group of members in the support group of the Giordano Bruno Foundation , set up a "religion-free zone" in Dresden Neustadt during the church convention. "The aim is to offer a point of contact for all those who 'consciously perceive themselves as being without God'," said a spokesman for the association. In addition, "... one wants to 'be a danger to all who exercise power under the guise of church and religion'".

The organizers of the “religion-free zone” also criticized the financing of the Kirchentag, which received 53% of its budget from tax revenues. “The church could do 'cheap advertising at state expense'.” Overall, the Kirchentag, at which numerous federal politicians appeared - u. a. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel - public grants of 7.86 million euros. Since the church only contributed 1 million euros itself, but only 21% of the citizens of Saxony belong to one of the two large churches, the distribution of the funding was criticized.

In addition, state facilities such as schools were used as accommodation, which led to criticism of the lack of separation between church and state . The FDP criticized the additional cleaning costs of the schools, which were also borne by the state.

See also

literature

  • Rüdiger Runge, Ellen Ueberschär (Ed.): ... your heart will also be there, Matthew 6:21. Theology and Faith, Society and Politics, World and Environment. 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress, Dresden 1. – 5. June 2011. Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2011, ISBN 978-3-579-08206-6
  • Silke Lechner (Ed.): Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag Dresden 2011. Documents. Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2012, ISBN 978-3-579-08205-9
  • Anke Binnewerg, Johannes Schmidt (Eds.): Holy things, holy places. A project within the framework of the regional cultural program of the 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress. (Exhibition of contemporary art in the former thermal power station in Dresden-Mitte from May 27 to June 26, 2011 for the 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress Dresden, June 1 to 5, 2011), Pingundpong-Designbüro, Dresden 2011, ISBN 978-3-00- 034584-5

Web links

Commons : Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag 2011  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German Evangelical Church Congress: Kirchentag presents invitation poster in Dresden. Dresden design office won the competition against industry giants. ( Memento from June 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ kirchentag.de: The Biblical Texts. Kirchentag translations. ( Memento from June 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ German Evangelical Church Congress: "... your heart will be there too". Solution for the Kirchentag Dresden 2011. ( Memento from March 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from March 21, 2010
  4. ↑ YouTube: Bodo Wartke - Your heart will be there too (Kirchentagssong)
  5. ↑ a b kirchentag.de: 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress Dresden 2011 in numbers. ( Memento from May 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g kirchentag.de: Overview of the resolutions of the Kirchentag ( Memento from June 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ Evangelisch.de: 120,000 believers celebrate the closing service of the Kirchentag.
  8. ↑ kirchentag.de: Collections ( Memento from May 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ medrum.de: Kirchentag collects in the closing service for coordination office against the right.
  10. ↑ Node workshop for textiles: From Württemberg to Dresden - Parament for Kirchentag 2011. ( Memento from September 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ a b c evangelisch.de: Is the Kirchentag too expensive for Dresden?
  12. ↑ a b Hendrik Lasch: Where there is a heart there should be a brain. "Religion-free zone" as an atheistic alternative to the Kirchentag. New Germany from June 1, 2011
  13. ^ Research Center for Weltanschauungen in Germany: German Church Days Protestant, Catholic, Ecumenical 1982–2011. ( Memento of May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on June 18, 2011; PDF file; 134 kB)