Saxon Confession Initiative

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The Saxon Confession Initiative (SBI) is an association to which parishes, communities, works and individuals within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony belong. The confessional initiative includes, among others, the regional association of regional church communities in Saxony with 430 local associations, the youth association Decided for Christ (around 2400 people), the YMCA Saxony (around 1400 people), 106 church councils and around 7900 individuals (as of 2014).

prehistory

In the Federal Republic of Germany, resistance was formed in the 1960s against the predominant academic theology (keyword: historical-critical exegesis ), which in 1966 led to the foundation of the confessional movement No other gospel . In November 1970, on the initiative of the Lutheran Convention of Saxony, a working group Church and Confession was founded in the GDR . A fragmentation within the church was welcomed by the state. Under these political framework conditions, the evangelicals did not take offensive protests against the church, and the regional church exercised restraint towards the confessional movement. On January 9, 1971, the working group presented itself to the public with a service in the Petrikirche ( Karl-Marx-Stadt ). It wanted to counter “the ecclesiastical and theological crisis” and was supported by pietistic and confessional Lutheran groups within the Saxon regional church. In the other regional churches in the GDR territory, no comparable confessional movement was formed; a connection to the conference of professing communities in Germany was not possible for the working group . The regional association of regional church communities of Saxony , the Lutheran Unification Work and the Volksmissionskreis Sachsen belonged to the groups that supported the working group in 1970/71 ; In 2012 they were one of the founding members of the Saxon Confession Initiative.

founding

St. Barbara Church , Markersbach in the Ore Mountains (2010)

The Saxon Confession Initiative was founded on January 30, 2012 in Markersbach . In the background there were internal church discussions about the Saxon pastoral service law . In the confession initiative, opponents of the regulation that registered civil partnerships can be lived in the rectory if the local congregation and church leadership agree. The following declaration was passed in Markersbach: “We recognize the efforts of the church leadership to create a regulation that serves the unity of the regional church. Nevertheless, we have to contradict essential contents of their resolution on the basis of writing and confession. We urgently expect an ecclesiastical law from the regional synod that will enable us to continue to be loyal to the resolutions of the regional church and protect us from regulations and situations that we have to reject as being contrary to the scriptures and the creed. ”About one fifth of all parishes of the Markersbacher agreed Saxon regional church.

Discussion process 2012 to 2015

In April 2012, a regional synod took place in Dresden , which also dealt with changes in pastoral law. In the run-up to this, the confession initiative collected around 8,000 signatures against the controversial new regulation. As one of the leaders of the initiative, Carsten Rentzing , pastor in Markneukirchen , explained : “Pastors should also preach the teachings of the church with their way of life. A homosexual way of life, however, does not correspond to God's will to create. ”Rentzing was also considered to be a co-founder of the confessional initiative in the Ore Mountains, although he did not belong to it himself.

The regional synod then suggested a three-year discussion process on the amendment of § 39 of the EKD Pastor Service Act, because it opened up fundamental questions of the image of the family and the understanding of the Bible that could not be decided by a majority decision.

The regional church office set up a working group led by Oberlandeskirchenrat Dietrich Bauer; these included: the Oberlandeskirchenräte Peter Meis and Klaus Schurig, Professor Johannes Berthold (Chairman of the Saxon Community Association) and Pastor Carsten Rentzing. An extra page was set up on the homepage of the regional church, on which various materials could be found that should serve as an impetus for discussion in congregations and groups, including two related series of theses by Meis and Rentzing, which were often used at events. The SBI adopted Rentzing's 20 theses as its own.

On June 1, 2012, the Missionswerk evangelism team , which was one of the founding members of the SBI, established the status confessionis . It no longer recognized the bishop, church leadership and synod and called for a confessional synod (as in 1934 in Barmen ). Theo Lehmann and other evangelicals used "the language, style and theological formulas of legitimation of the Confessing Church ". The question of whether the status confessionis had occurred was discussed within the Saxon Confession Initiative. Theo Lehmann personally terminated his loyalty to Regional Bishop Jochen Bohl , which had no consequences for him as a pastor in retirement. The leader of the evangelism team, Lutz Scheufler, was dismissed from the church service, other church employees received warnings .

The discussion process ended with the spring meeting of the regional synod in 2015. It was found that it is part of the essence of the Church of Christ that it struggles for the correct understanding of the Bible. No consensus had been reached on questions of ethical judgment on a biblical basis. The confession initiative interpreted the result as granting “space and protection for conservative Christians” in the regional church, a free space that one wants to use; There is no reason to resign or leave the church.

Term of office of Bishop Rentzing 2015 to 2019

Carsten Rentzing as regional bishop (2017)

When Carsten Rentzing was elected the new regional bishop in the sixth ballot with a narrow majority on May 21, 2015, he was faced with the task of overcoming the polarization within the Saxon regional church. The Markersbach pastor Gaston Nogrady declared on the part of the Saxon Confession Initiative that the SBI respect that Rentzing will be "a bishop of all". Rentzing announced that he did not want to marginalize anyone in the church, but personally he could not advise people to live their own homosexuality openly. After a year in office, Rentzing expressed himself positively in an interview about the modus vivendi represented by the regional church before his election (and criticized by him at the time) with regard to cohabitation in the rectory; this will last for a long time. He ruled out marriages, but one could talk about the blessing of same-sex couples .

Liberal church members founded the “Forum for Community and Theology” at Pentecost 2016, which operates its own internet platform and invites you to annual discussion events. This group sees itself as a counterweight to the SBI. "Initiatives like the Saxon Confession Initiative shape a one-sided, in my view backward-looking image, which we want to contrast with a different understanding of church and faith," said the forum's spokesman, Christoph Maier, in a press release.

In autumn 2016, the church leadership decided to let pastors decide from the following year on whether they should bless a homosexual couple or not - as a case-by-case rule. Bishop Rentzing emphasized that he personally refused to receive such a blessing. The “Forum for Community and Theology” welcomed the decision of the church leadership. The Saxon Confession Initiative declared the resolution of the church leadership to be spiritually inadmissible and null and void under canon law. She published a handout to inform members of the church council that the Blessing of same-sex couples was contrary to the Bible and the Creed.

Characterization of the SBI

The main concept of the Confession Initiative is the Christian family, understood as a traditional patriarchal family. It is considered the core of a "healthy" society. Various social developments are interpreted as threats to this family. From this follows the rejection of " gender mainstreaming and ' multiculturalism ', of abortion and sexual orientations apart from heterosexuality ."

The journalist Jennifer Stange researched the networking of evangelical people and organizations in Saxony on behalf of the Heinrich Böll Foundation . She coined the term "Saxon Biblebelt "; this is used in media reports, but also in specialist literature as an explanatory model for the regional roots of the SBI in southern Saxony, between the Vogtland and the Ore Mountains . Stange ascribes the role of a fundamentalist avant-garde to the evangelism team and the working group for worldview issues (“AG Welt”), and they are primarily active in the Bible Belt. Stange accuses the Saxon regional church of an appeasement policy ; Since she sees mission as an extremely important field of activity, let the evangelism team do it , make church infrastructure available to them and ignore the criticism directed against them. According to Stange, the missionaries cooperated with house groups and Bible groups in rural congregations to which the newly converted would be given. In these communities there is a "relatively closed milieu ... in which the faith is lived comparatively strictly." They benefit from the fact that in structurally weak regions they offer leisure activities in addition to sports clubs and can influence community life.

According to Michael Lühmann ( Göttingen Institute for Democracy Research ) there is an “ultra-conservative-religious [s], evangelically professing [s], right-wing open [s] network" behind the confessional initiative "- he names the fraternal council of the community aid association and the community network - and this have a spiritual closeness to the AfD ("suffering from diversity ").

Web links

literature

  • Jennifer Stange: Evangelicals in Saxony. A report . Heinrich Böll Foundation Saxony, Dresden 2014. ( PDF )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jennifer Stange: Evangelicals in Saxony . Dresden 2014, p. 17 f.
  2. ^ A b Gisa Bauer : Evangelical Movement and Evangelical Church in the Federal Republic of Germany: History of a fundamental conflict (1945 to 1989) . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2012, p. 23 f.
  3. ↑ Siegfried Hermle: The Evangelicals as a counter-movement . In: Siegfried Hermle, Claudia Lepp, Harry Oelke (eds.): Upheavals: German Protestantism and the social movements in the 1960s and 70s . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2012, pp. 325–352, here p. 337.
  4. ↑ EvLKS: Report on the discussion process on the understanding of Scripture and the Church , p. 3.
  5. ↑ It shouldn't be like that . In: Friday, April 21, 2012.
  6. ^ Lenz Jacobsen, Eva-Maria Hommel: Gay life partners in the rectory. Close the door . In: Spiegel Online, April 20, 2012.
  7. ^ Carsten Rentzing new regional bishop in Saxony . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung, May 31, 2015.
  8. ↑ "The Bible does not see homosexuality as God's will" . In: welt.de, August 22, 2015.
  9. ^ Declaration of the 26th Regional Synod of the Ev.-Luth. Regional Church of Saxony on § 39 of the EKD Parish Service Act and on the resolution of the church leadership of 21. January 2012 .
  10. ^ Against the blessing of homosexuals. The regional church community understands church resignations . In: Sunday, December 7th, 2016.
  11. ↑ EvLKS: Report on the discussion process on the understanding of Scripture and the Church , p. 5. 7.
  12. ^ Theses on the interpretation of scriptures and the unity of the church .
  13. ↑ a b EvLKS: Report on the discussion process on the understanding of Scripture and the Church , p. 5.
  14. ^ Alexander Leistner: Social movements: emergence and stabilization using the example of the independent peace movement in the GDR . Herbert von Halem Verlag, Cologne 2017, p. 219.
  15. ↑ a b c Pious and free in Luther's country? In: Deutschlandfunk, January 25, 2017.
  16. ↑ Declaration on the “Discussion Process on Understanding Scripture and the Church” .
  17. ↑ Confession Initiative thanks you for protecting your position . In: Sunday, April 22, 2015.
  18. ^ Idea press service, June 1, 2015.
  19. ↑ "We have to talk to each other, even if it hurts" . In: evangelisch.de, 23 August 2016.
  20. ↑ Saxon Forum for Community and Theology is launched: Press release May 18, 2016.pdf
  21. ↑ Another dispute over homosexuality in the Saxon regional church . In: Sunday, October 20, 2016.
  22. ↑ The Saxon regional church has not "overturned" . In: idea.de, October 19, 2016.
  23. ↑ Maria Steinhaus, Tino Heim, Anja Weber: “This is how Saxon works!” Pegida and the paradoxes of 'Saxon democracy' . In: Tino Heim (Ed.): Pegida as a mirror and projection surface: interactions and demarcations between Pegida, politics, media, civil society and social sciences , Springer, Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 143–196, here p. 171. Cf. also: Jennifer Stange: Evangelicals in Saxony . Dresden 2014, p. 10.
  24. ↑ Christian fundamentalism in the Saxon “Biblebelt”. A report brings movement . In: thinking ahead. Heinrich Böll Foundation Saxony.
  25. ↑ Cf. on this: EvLKS: Report on the discussion process on the understanding of Scripture and the Church , p. 5 f.
  26. ↑ Faithfulness to the Bible feels at home in the Pegida world . In: welt.de, January 18, 2015. Land of the God-fearing . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 11, 2015.
  27. ↑ Andreas Kemper : Anti Emancipatory networks and gender and family policy alternative for Germany . In: The alternative for Germany: program, development and political positioning . Springer, Wiesbaden 2016, pp. 81–97, here p. 89. Marc Drobot, Martin Schroeder:
  28. ↑ Marc Drobot, Martin Schroeder: How to fight what you represent yourself. Pegida - a fundamentalist group . In: Tino Heim (Ed.): Pegida as a mirror and projection surface: interactions and demarcations between Pegida, politics, media, civil society and social sciences , Springer, Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 253–306, here p. 257.
  29. ↑ Jennifer Stange: Evangelicals in Saxony . Dresden 2014, p. 9.
  30. ↑ Jennifer Stange: Evangelicals in Saxony . Dresden 2014, p. 34 f.
  31. ↑ Jennifer Stange: Evangelicals in Saxony . Dresden 2014, p. 32.
  32. ↑ Jennifer Stange: Evangelicals in Saxony . Dresden 2014, p. 6.
  33. ↑ Michael Lühmann: Opinion conflict from the right. About ideology, programs and networks of conservative Christians, the new right media and the AfD . think ahead. Heinrich Böll Foundation Saxony, Dresden 2016, p. 11 f.