Relation to God

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The term " reference to God " refers to a religious reference to God .

Such a reference can be found, for example, in the preamble of constitutions. A common distinction is made between the invocatio dei 'invocation of God' and the nominatio dei 'naming God' . While in the case of the nominatio dei God is only mentioned in the constitution, in the case of an invocatio dei the constitution is enacted in the name of God.

Discussion about a reference to God in constitutions

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The pro arguments

Historically, the inclusion of the reference to God in the German Basic Law was primarily intended to mark the difference to the totalitarianism of the National Socialist state . The reference to God is not understood as a religious reference, but as a rejection of a totalitarian state system. According to this, the state is not the highest and last instance in the sense of a Hobbesian Leviathan . The people of the state in their function as constituent power should also be bound by the natural , pre- and supranational foundations of the state. There is therefore no complete lack of commitment in the act of constitution.

However, it is also undisputed that the historical legislature associated a Christian image of God with the invocation of God. However, this does not result in a Christian interpretation of the Basic Law. Due to demographic change and the religious and ideological pluralization of society, the “preamble God” is no longer associated with the Christian God, but is understood as an open symbol for the “last moral force” ahead of the state. This open symbol of the “responsibility before God and man” can then be filled with the most diverse views of the foundations of the state and society and promote the integrating function of the constitution.

Since the reference to God is not understood as specifically taking part in a certain faith and should not result in a religious justification of the constitutional norms, this is not an exception to the principle of the state's religious and ideological neutrality. Non-believers and non-believers are neither obliged by the preamble to accept the Christian image of God nor to affirm the Christian image of the state.

In the political debate, the reference to God is sometimes also understood as an indication of the close connection between European culture and Christianity or as a reference to the Christian majority in the constitutional people.

The proponents see the value of a reference to God above all in the designation of a final and binding accountability body withdrawn from the state.

The contra arguments

A reference to God in constitutions is problematic, since it always describes the relationship between state and church. In addition, a Christian reference can also be seen in contradiction to state neutrality in relation to other religions, is sometimes criticized. The opponents therefore see a violation of the principle of the separation of church and state in the relation to God : the state , obliged to ideological neutrality, must preserve the autonomy of its democratic legal system , Partly against the resistance of the Christian churches. A reference to God would shift human rights as the basis of the constitution to the second member. Faith as a field of reference for the private and personal and the subject of personal decisions of conscience has no place in the constitution. Many critics see a reference to God as privileging the believing portion of the constitutional people, more precisely the Christians; the reference to God is to be equated historically with the Christian image of God. Arrogance of believers (Christians) towards non-Christian communities and atheists should be the result. In addition, the reference to God should already include discrimination against the non-believing minority by the believing majority. This minority argument can also be reversed: In the German state of Thuringia, where only about 41% of the population described themselves as members of a church, the opponents of the reference to God rejected it as a preference for the believing minority. Another reason mentioned for maintaining religious neutrality and against the reference to God is that the democratic order cannot bind its legitimacy to one or more religions, since it must also apply to all people of different or non-believers.

Against the argument that a lack of reference to God is a sign of exaggerated secularization, opponents of the reference to God refer to the constitution of the United States and the American individual states, in which there are no references to God, which apparently does not significantly hinder American religiosity.

Reference to God in the European Constitution

Such a reference to God was controversial when the European constitution was drafted . This is where the French conception of the state of a secular , laicist state with a complete separation between state and church collided with the predominantly Catholic conception of individual EU member states such as Poland, Ireland or Italy or German Christian Democracy .

In addition to the Roman Catholic Church , the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) had also reaffirmed the demand for a reference to God in the EU constitution. The EKD continues to advocate that the treaty include "an express reference to responsibility before God and the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition". One of the proposals (based on the Polish Constitution) had the following wording: “The values ​​of the European Union encompass the values ​​of those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty, as well as those who believe in this do not share, but derive these universal values ​​from other sources. "

The final result is a compromise without an explicit reference to God in the constitution: reference is only made to the “cultural, religious and humanistic heritage of Europe”; there is no decidedly Christian reference.

Relation to God in German state constitutions

The state constitutions of the federal states of Baden-Württemberg , Bavaria , North Rhine-Westphalia , Lower Saxony , Rhineland-Palatinate , Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have a reference to God in the preamble . In the constitutions of the states of Berlin , Brandenburg , Bremen , Hamburg , Hesse , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Saarland , Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein , however, there is no reference to a god.

Article 12 of the state constitution of Baden-Wuerttemberg also stipulates: "The youth are in awe of God, to be educated in the spirit of Christian love for their neighbor [...]."

References to God in the constitutions of other states

In the EU member states, references to God can be found - alongside the German Basic Law - in the constitutions of Greece, Ireland and Poland. The Swiss constitution also begins with an invocation to God. In the Constitution of Slovakia there is a reference to the spiritual heritage of Saints Cyril and Methodius .

A reference to God can also be found in the constitutions of Algeria , Argentina , Bahrain , Brazil , Indonesia , Iran , Canada , Kuwait , Mauritania , Pakistan , Paraguay , Peru and the Philippines .

In July 2020, the Constitution of the Russian Federation was given a reference to God.

Examples in constitutions

"Conscious of its responsibility before God and people [...] the German people [...] have given themselves this Basic Law."

- Preamble to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

“In view of the rubble to which a state and social order without God, without conscience and without respect for human dignity led the survivors of the Second World War, [...] the Bavarian people [...] adopted the following [...] constitution. "

- Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria

"In the awareness of the responsibility before God, the source of law and creator of all human community, [...] the people of Rhineland-Palatinate have given themselves this constitution."

- Constitution for Rhineland-Palatinate

“In the name of God Almighty! The Swiss people and the cantons [...] give themselves the following constitution. "

- Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation

"We, the people of the canton of Friborg, who believe in God or draw our values ​​from other sources."

- Constitution of the Canton of Friborg

“[…] We decide, the Polish people - all citizens of the republic, both those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, goodness and beauty, and those who do not share this belief, but this universal one Deriving values ​​from other sources, [...] in gratitude to our ancestors [...] for the culture that is rooted in the Christian heritage of the people and in general human values ​​[...] in the awareness of responsibility before God or our own conscience, us to give the constitution of the Republic of Poland. "

- Polish Constitution

“In the name of the Most Holy Trinity, from whence all authority comes and towards which, as our ultimate goal, all actions of both men and states must be directed, We, the people of Ireland, humbly acknowledge all our obligations to our divine Lord , Jesus Christ [...] we accept this constitution, put it into effect and give it to us. […]
Art. 6. All governmental power […] goes out next to God from the people. "

- Constitution of Ireland

"In the name of Allah Most Merciful, Most Merciful!"

- Constitution of Iran of 1906

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tine Stein : "Aware of his responsibility before God ...". Christian image of man and a democratic constitutional state. In: Mathias Hildebrandt, Hartmut Behr (ed.): Secularization and resacralization in western societies. History of ideas and theoretical perspectives. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-531-13602-X , pp. 185-201.
  2. ^ Hans D. Jarass , Bodo Pieroth : Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Comment. 10th edition. Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58375-9 , preamble Rn. 3.
  3. ↑ Otto Böhm: Reference to God in Europe's Constitution? Nuremberg Human Rights Center, May 2004 ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
  4. ↑ Albrecht Hartel: Separate ways. Measures to separate state and religion. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2011, ISBN 978-3-8423-3685-8 .
  5. ↑ Huber: Preamble to the EU constitution must be precise and balanced. EKD press release, May 25, 2004.
  6. ↑ Church and State - a long-running favorite. DAAD magazine, January 5, 2005 ( Memento from February 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive ).
  7. ↑ Relation to God (in the EU constitution). European dictionary of the Federal Agency for Civic Education .
  8. ↑ Landtag in Schleswig-Holstein: Refusal to refer to God in the Kiel state constitution. Spiegel.de , July 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ a b Constitutions of the World, accessed on May 14, 2008.
  10. ↑ NZZ.ch: The constitutional vote in Russia is accompanied by many oddities - but the results show the success of the Kremlin , July 2020
  11. ^ Wilhelm Litten : The new Persian constitution. In: Contributions to the knowledge of the Orient. Vol. 6, 1908, p. 21.

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