Unitarian - religious group of free faith

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The Unitarians - religious community of free faith (from Latin: unitas , unity) are a religious community of Unitarianism in Germany, which is historically assigned to the free religious communities . The community has about 500 members. Until 2015 it was called the German Unitarian Religious Community .

Content

The Unitarians - religious community of free faith are, according to their self- image, a free, non- Christian , pantheistic , humanistic religious community in the tradition of the religion of the Enlightenment , in which the free religious communities also stand.

They have no religious dogma and are therefore a free religious community. But there are basic ideas of the community that are offered to the individual as a means of interpretation.

Central principles are the belief in the unity of all being, which is permeated by the essence of the divine , and the belief in human reason. Outsiders often think that the German Unitarians only use “ freedom , reason , tolerance ” as a counterpart to the Christian models of “ faith , love , hope ” . Unitarians, on the other hand, state that they believe in a cohesive world principle that they often refer to as the divine. This connection, which is effective everywhere, is a profane expression for an all-embracing love in which the Unitarians believe and on whose effectiveness they base all their hopes.

In contrast to other Unitarian religious communities, which either still practice a Christian - anti-Trinitarian faith or allow their members such a belief as a possibility , the Unitarian religious community of free faith see themselves as completely detached from Christianity ; however, they acknowledge the historical origin of anti-Trinitarian Christianity.

Religiousness is seen as a person's innate ability to create meaning, through which he can fill his life with meaning and through which he becomes more free, more tolerant and more capable of loving. The interpretation of the world is absolutely left to the individual. This also demands that people take responsibility for their own actions and omissions as indispensable.

Common unitarian statements of faith are adjusted in the form of "basic ideas" at irregular intervals by consensus within the community to the changing convictions of the members and possibly also to the knowledge of the time and finally decided at a general meeting. The basic ideas of the German Unitarians are thus the first historical example of a religious community that is founded on the religious convictions of the individual members and whose common beliefs are determined by grassroots democracy, whereby these are only binding if a Unitarian expresses himself generally about the Unitarians .

Events

Unitarians hold ceremonies rather than church services. These celebrations are known, for example, as the "hour of reflection" or the morning celebration. Since the traditions in the congregations and the style of the speakers are different, Unitarian celebrations do not have a rigid schedule. In addition to the regional offers of the communities such as discussion groups, social activities, lectures and the celebrations, there are supraregional meetings such as the Unitarian Day that takes place every second year and seminars. The celebration hours in the curriculum vitae and in the annual cycle are particularly important to Unitarians.

history

The German Unitarians developed out of Christianity and organizationally from the Free Protestants , who originally still felt that they were Christians. In 1876 the religious community of Free Protestants was founded in Rheinhessen as an independent association in protest against changes to the constitution of the regional church. At the beginning of the 20th century, the term German-Unitarian appeared for the first time. Due to the efforts of the community to expand to all of Germany after the end of the Second World War, new members from various circles outside the church, especially from the former German Faith Movement , joined the Free Protestants. After the renaming to "German Unitarians" in 1950, there were repeated internal wars over the following four decades, from which the pantheistic-humanistic majority emerged stronger in the 1990s, while member groups with different orientations left the community. From 1990 the community increased its commitment to socio-political and social issues in Germany and Europe.

Prehistory (1876 to 1945)

Postcard from the World Congress for Free Christianity and Religious Progress

In 1876 the "Religious Community of Free Protestants" was founded in Rheinhessen. The foundation took place in the course of the effect of a new church constitution of the Hessian regional church, with which church taxes were introduced. The church tax was supposed to make the church independent, but it led to a storm of protest from the Rhine-Hessian congregations, the reason for the rejection being that money sacrifices had to be given voluntarily, out of love. There were numerous protest gatherings across the country, which resulted in a wave of withdrawals.

The pastor Balthasar Matty , who already played an important role in the March days of the revolution of 1848 and at that time advocated the introduction of the republic, took over the leadership and achieved the formation of an organizational structure. The creed he designed was still shaped by Christian and Trinitarian principles. In 1878 the Free Protestants comprised 4,779 members.

In 1909 Rudolf Walbaum (1869–1948) became pastor of the free Protestant religious community in Rheinhessen. After studying theology, he had been pastor of the Lutheran regional church in Hanover since 1897, but was reprimanded for liberal statements and in 1900 transferred to a rural community in the Harz Mountains. After he entered the service of the Protestant movement in Austria and Bohemia from 1901 and was pastor in Wiener Neustadt and Haida , he finally found himself with the Rhine-Hessian Free Protestants and in 1909 took over the pastor's position in Alzey ; from 1912 he was also a preacher in the Free Religious Community of Worms . At a congress of liberal theologians at the World Congress for Free Christianity and Religious Progress in Berlin in 1910, he made contact with American Unitarians. In 1911, Walbaum gave the Free Protestants the nickname “German Unitarian”, and their magazine “Der Freiprotestant”, which Walbaum published from 1911, was subtitled German-Unitarian papers . Walbaum's activity for Unitarianism also stimulated Clemens Taesler , preacher of the Free Religious Community of Görlitz , to commit to Unitarianism since 1915 and to ensure its spread. Since October 1918 Taesler has been pastor of the free religious community in Frankfurt, which officially admitted to Unitarianism through its influence from 1926 and renamed itself Unitarian Free Religious Community . In 1927 Walbaum and Taesler founded the German Unitarian Union . Before 1933, Walbaum joined the League of Köngener of Wilhelm Hauer and was actively preparing establishing the Association German Faith Movement involved. In order to evade a ban by the National Socialists, the German Unitarian Union united in 1934 with the still existing free religious communities of the Association of Free Religious Communities of Germany to form the Free Religious Community of Germany . In 1935 the German Unitarian Union was dissolved due to its international connections. In addition to Georg Pick (Mainz), Karl Weiß (Mannheim), Max Gehrmann (Offenbach), Rudolf Walbaum and Clemens Taesler were among the leading personalities of the Free Religious Community. In the Free Religious Community of Germany, Walbaum and Taesler were able to continue working unhindered until the end of the war.

Under Walbaum's leadership there was not only a turning away from Trinitarian Christianity, but also a general turning away from a binding creed. In its place came the “complete spiritual freedom in religious terms instead of being bound by creeds or denominations”. The use of reason in a religious sense as well as "extensive tolerance towards the various religious views and customs" were postulated. For over 40 years, Walbaum was the leading personality of the Rheinhessen Free Protestants and the German Unitarians.

At the beginning of the Nazi regime, the German Unitarians lost members. The number of members decreased to around 1500.

Reorganization after 1945

After 1945 the free Protestant congregations were reconstituted and strengthened by new members. The original community in Rheinhessen comprised 15 communities with a total of around 1000 members. In the British and American zones in particular, they received support because the occupation forces knew Unitarians from their own countries. The religious community opened up to all those who had become religiously homeless, so that many new members joined the congregations. Numerous new congregations were also founded outside of the traditional distribution area of ​​the Free Protestants in Rheinhessen.

Between 1945 and 1947 Walbaum took decisive steps to expand his sphere of activity, which was previously limited to Rheinhessen, which led to the establishment of numerous parishes from 1947 onwards. With this work, Walbaum opened the community to supporters of ethnic groups, which made them widely adopted by the ideology of the German-believing movements. The German Unitarian religious community succeeded in offering "not a few members" of the German faith movement of Jakob Wilhelm Hauer and other " believers in God " a religious home. Hauer himself, according to Wilhelm Kusserow, "initially worked with the Unitarians and then founded the 'Free Academy' together with others."

Rudolf Walbaum carried out intensive development work, especially in refugee and prison camps. In the Hohenasperg internment camp set up by the Americans for National Socialist officials , Walbaum met Herbert Böhme , who after joining the Unitarians in June 1947 founded a Unitarian camp group. Herbert Böhme became one of the dominant figures of the first few years. However, his and his colleagues' strong nationalistic and national-political views led to internal tensions.

In September 1947 Walbaum and Böhme organized a meeting on the Klüt near Hameln to discuss a restructuring of the overall organization. It was here that the so-called Klüt Circle was formed, at which Walbaum Herbert Böhme was appointed First Speaker. Walbaum died in 1948, whereupon the religious community threatened to break up. This was prevented by the agreement at the general assembly on September 19, 1948 in Eppelsheim through the unanimously adopted "Eppelsheim formula".

On October 8, 1949, the German Unitarians took part in the founding of the umbrella organization of the German People's Association for Freedom of the Spirit , to which very different organizations of the free-religious, free-spirited and free-thinking movement belonged when it was founded. In addition to the German Unitarians, the Federation of Free Religious Congregations in Germany , the German Freethinkers Association , the German Monist Association and a few smaller associations became members of the umbrella organization. Due to the considerable range and heterogeneity of the participating organizations, there were repeated exits and entries.

In 1950, at the first general assembly of the German Unitarians after the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany in Hameln, a new statute was adopted and the name of the religious community was changed to German Unitarian religious community , which, however, continued to see itself in the tradition of the "free Protestants". First Chairman ("President") was Karlheinz Küthe and First Speaker Herbert Böhme. Eberhard Achterberg took over the editing of the journal of the religious community for 14 years, which was published until 1977 under the title Glaube und Tat and from 1978 as Unitarian papers .

The influx of new members - the number of members grew to 6,000 - meant that the traditional “Free Protestants” found themselves in a minority position. There was still a contrast between the pantheistic, Unitarian orientation of numerous new members and the traditional "free Protestant" orientation of the old members. There were also personal conflicts, also between new and old members, but also between Friedrich Schöll and Herbert Böhme. There were always resignations from members of the Free Protestants, who mostly joined free religious communities. In addition, 1949 broke off contact with the communities in the Soviet-occupied zone. 1954 resigned the Free Protestant "Urgemeinde", which was constituted as the Unitarian Religious Community Free Protestants KdöR . In 1954, due to internal resistance, Böhme had to resign from his leadership role in the “Klütkreis”.

After Boehme's withdrawal as the first speaker, the “Klütkreis” was replaced by the “Spiritual Council”, which was headed by Friedrich Schöll (1874–1967), Boehmes' opponent. Schöll used to belong to the Volkish movement, was a member of Hauer's German Faith Movement and a member of the NSDAP. From 1971 to 1977 the former Nazi functionary and war criminal Friedrich Ehrlicher was President.

In 1989 the folk -oriented “ Bund Deutscher Unitarians, Religious Community of European Spirit ” around Sigrid Hunke split off from the German Unitarians; in 1997 it had around 300 members. At the beginning of the 1990s board member Horst Prem Hunkes described literary work as an essential focus for the German Unitarians. After the Bund Deutscher Unitarians split off, however, “progressive” tendencies finally gained the upper hand among the German Unitarians, which is expressed in publications. In 2000, the Unitarian Beinhauer characterized Hunke's books as polarizing and found that their point of view was largely rejected by the Unitarians. Furthermore he missed u. a. the commitment to freedom of personal opinion, the rejection of the compulsion to believe and conscience and the declaration of tolerance.

By resolution of the 2015 Annual General Meeting in Worms, the community will in future be called Unitarians - religious community of free faith .

Legally independent institutions

In September 1954 there was an appeal to the congregations of the German Unitarian Religious Community to “create a joint youth organization”, which was to bear the name of German Young Unitarians . The youth groups existing in the communities should be brought together in it. Whitsun 1956 there were “difficult disputes about the formation of the nascent covenant ... One side campaigned for a tight youth organization. These community youth should be strictly controlled in order to develop under the strong influence of the religious community. ... The other side was committed to founding an independent youth association in the tradition of the German youth movement . "The" alliance's self-image excludes close institutional and organizational ties to the German Unitarian religious community, but not cooperation on the basis of common basic unitarian ideas. "

The latter group finally prevailed: On August 8, 1956, the Union of German-Unitarian Youth (BDUJ) was entered in the Kassel register of associations. It is a “free and legally independent youth association that is neither politically nor religiously or ideologically determined” and that wants to “collect free-believing youth”. In 2013 the federal government had around 150 members between the ages of 6 and 26 years. He sees himself in the tradition of the German youth movement and has u. a. participated in the Meissner meetings in 1963, 1988 and 2013. The BDUJ is a member of the Ring Junge Bünde eV (RjB).

On April 30, 1970, the non-profit Unitarian Academy was founded as an institution for educational work. She is a member of the German Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband and the Paritätisches Bildungswerk .

For social and youth work there is a non-profit organization of the German Unitarian eV , which was founded on February 3rd, 1967 in Hamburg and is also a member of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband. The aid organization has various independent sub-organizations such as the aid organization of the German Unitarians, Regionalgruppe Kiel eV

The Klingberg youth and education center in Ostholstein, founded in 1980, is another legally independent institution. It serves as a conference venue; The sponsor is the "Youth and Family Education Association Klingberg eV".

In 2006 the community established the independent foundation unitates - the foundation of the German Unitarian Religionsgemeinschaft eV The purpose of the foundation is to promote religious tolerance and a democratically oriented worldview.

Memberships

The German Unitarians are members of the " umbrella organization of free Weltanschauungsgemeinschaften (DFW)", which u. a. also the “ Federation of Free Religious Congregations in Germany Kdö.R. ", The" Federation for Freedom of the Mind (bfg) Bayern Kdö.R. "And the" Humanist Freidenkerbund Brandenburg eV "belong. The DFW sees itself as a representative of free-spirited, church-free people and stands "for humanism, tolerance and human rights, for a peaceful coexistence of people regardless of their religious, ideological and political views and for a balanced relationship between man and nature." from the German People's Association for Freedom of the Mind (DVfG), to which the German Unitarian religious community also belonged.

In addition, the German Unitarians are members of the World Federation for Religious Freedom (IARF) and are the only German Unitarian religious communities in the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), which is an umbrella organization for most of the Unitarian religious communities worldwide.

Controversy

Controversies about the German Unitarian religious community often focused on the political past of leading members and their political activities after 1945. Already after the general meeting and renaming to the German Unitarian religious community in 1950, an internal dispute developed, in the course of which the traditionally oriented communities split off. The original communities blamed Herbert Böhme and Karlheinz Küthe for an “intolerant and dictatorial” Unitarianism, which led to the religious community abroad being perceived as a “neo-fascist movement” . An activity report of the North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 1956 leads as one of the organizations it has observed under the heading "Right-wing extremism in interest groups, in cultural, ideological associations and youth organizations ..." a. the German Unitarians. The disputes between the original communities and the Unitarian religious community dragged on until 1957.

In a documentation published in 1999 by the Rheinhessen Free Protestants it is regretted that the German Unitarian Religious Community has been making the “historically wrong and misleading attempt” to justify its existence from the history of the Rheinhessen Free Protestants until the very recent past . The Protestant theologian and religious historian Wolfgang Seibert sees in the connection of the German Unitarians to the Free Protestants, on the other hand, “by no means unfair motives” or even an “abuse” of an “existing and proven organizational framework”. The "spiritual affinity" with Free Protestantism, represented by its religious leader since 1909, Rudolf Walbaum , was, according to Seibert, "so great that it could lead to a 'connection' for reasons related to the 'religious substance'." .

But even Böhme's withdrawal in 1954 did not bring any reassurance. During the time when Sigrid Hunke was honorary chairwoman and vice-president, the German Unitarian religious community was increasingly discussed in public. Only after the ethnic-nationally oriented Unitarians around Hunke split off in 1989 did a reorientation of the religious community begin. The Unitarian Community stated that internal democratic opinion - forming processes made it possible to isolate “earlier tendencies of right-wing ideas” . The outgoing President Horst Prem declared in 1991: "Since we do not apply any other principles than the democratic, separations cannot be ordered by decree, but only enforceable through arguments."

In the 1980s and 1990s, some lawsuits were carried out, some of which were lost by the German Unitarian religious community, particularly with reference to freedom of expression. In these trials, for example, the controversial designation of the German Unitarians as a “Nazi sect”: Such a designation - according to the court's guiding principle - “is to be regarded as a mere expression of opinion in a press release. This does not exceed the limit of inadmissible abuse criticism. "

In the Kassel Declaration adopted at the 2011 Annual General Meeting , the religious community regretted that “this process dragged on until the end of the 1980s” . In their Unitarian community there is “no place for anti-democratic, extremist and neo-fascist ideologies.” In the foreword to the reprint of a lecture on the historical processing of community development, the 2015 Executive Board confesses that “we are ashamed of that part of the history of our community that is with ethnic ideas , Intolerance and a supposedly special path of 'völkisch-German' Unitarians ('German Unitarians') ” . This is a reminder and an obligation for the community for the future.

swell

  1. ↑ Lt. Cash report 2017 there were 468 members nationwide.
  2. ^ Report from the Unitarian Day 2015 with press release about the name change
  3. ↑ Eberhard Achterberg formulated as a Unitarian in his essay the size and limits of a religious humanism z. B. the following categorical imperative of religious humanism: "Always act in such a way that you are aware of your responsibility for your fellow men in everything you do". Cf. Eberhard Achterberg: The strength that sustains us - search for meaning in a threatened world. Verlag Deutsche Unitarian, Munich 1985, pp. 177-188.
  4. ↑ The Enlightenment, according to which people are basically capable of self-determination, is represented by the empiricists as well as by the rationalists . The empiricism is essential by the English deism founded, which has its roots in Unitarianism. Wilhelm Dilthey expressly emphasizes that the rationalist position of the Enlightenment also stands essentially on a Unitarian basis, for which the words anti-Trinitarian and Socinian are just other terms . See Wilhelm Dilthey: Gesammelte Schriften, Volume II, Weltanschauung and Analysis of Man since the Renaissance and Reformation , Teubner Verlag, Leipzig / Berlin 1923, in it the chapter: "The natural system of the humanities in the 17th century" and in it above all the section: “Rationalism. Dissolution of Church Doctrine by Socinians and Arminians ”, pp. 129–144. Furthermore, through Lessing, the correspondence between the young Leibniz, who later became the main German exponent of rationalism, and the rather old Polish Unitarian Wissowatius is preserved, in which Leibniz expressly thanks for the suggestions, which were kept in the manner of religio rationalis , which Andreas Wissowatius wrote between 1676 and 1678.
  5. ↑ See the contribution by Wolfgang Deppert : The Second Enlightenment (Elaborated version of a lecture given on November 28, 1999 on the subject of "On the way to the second Enlightenment: From the common sense to the common sense of the individual" during the DfW conference "Paths In die Freiheit - On the future of the free-spirited individualistic movement "in Klingberg / Scharbeutz from November 26th to 28th, 1999) published slightly changed in: Unitarian Blätter, 51st Jahrhang, Heft 1,2,4 and 5 (2000), p. 8-13, 86-92, 170-186, 232-245.
  6. ^ Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian religious community. 1989, p. 17 ff.
  7. ↑ http://www.unitarier.de
  8. ↑ Walbaum also took part in the 1913 World Congress in Paris. See Stefan Kalk: Rudolf Walbaum . In: Lexicon of Free Religious Persons . Peter Guhl, Rohrbach / Pfalz 1997, p. 172.
  9. ^ Stefan Kalk: Rudolf Walbaum . In: Lexicon of Free Religious Persons . Edited by Eckart Pilick. Peter Guhl, Rohrbach / Pfalz 1997, p. 172.
  10. ↑ What do you think? 2000, pp. 119f .; Herbert Todt (Ed.): Unitarian Free Religion. Collection of sources on the history of its development in Frankfurt aM Frankfurt a. M. 1970, p. 3f.
  11. ↑ Ulrich Nanko: The German Faith Movement: A Historical and Sociological Investigation. Diagonal-Verlag 1993, pp. 301, 115-120.
  12. ↑ Festschrift for the 125th anniversary of the Free Religious Community Mainz and 25th anniversary of the Free Religious Community of Rhineland . Edited by the Free Religious Community Mainz, Mainz 1972, p. 13 ff.
  13. ↑ What do you think? 2000, pp. 119f.
  14. ↑ Festschrift for the 125th anniversary of the Free Religious Community Mainz and 25th anniversary of the Free Religious Community of Rhineland . Edited by the Free Religious Community Mainz, Mainz 1972, p. 13 ff.
  15. ^ Walbaum: Religious Unitarianism , 1947.
  16. ↑ Where do we come from. 2000, p. 224.
  17. ^ Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian religious community. 1989, p. 18.
  18. ↑ Horst Reller (Ed.): Handbuch Religiöse Gemeinschaft. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1993, p. 375.
  19. ↑ The Brockhaus Religions. 2004, p. 655.
  20. ↑ Hans Gasper, Joachim Müller, Friederike Valentin: Lexicon of sects, special groups and world views. Herder, Volume 5528, 2000, p. 1102.
  21. ↑ Theological Real Encyclopedia , p. 336.
  22. ^ Wilhelm Kusserow: Heimkehr zum Artglauben , Volume 3, 1999, p. 363.
  23. ↑ What do you think? 2000, p. 224.
  24. ^ Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian religious community. 1989, p. 33: "Next to Rudolf Walbaum, Herbert Böhme in particular made a special contribution to the community that was being formed."
  25. ↑ Horst Reller (Ed.): Handbuch Religiöse Gemeinschaft. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1993, p. 375.
  26. ↑ Wolfgang Deppert: Religion and Tolerance. The German Unitarians in the public debate. 1992, Appendix 1.
  27. ↑ What do you think? 2000, p. 231.
  28. ↑ Klaus Mehnert, Heinrich Schulte (ed.): Deutschland-Jahrbuch 1953. Rheinisch-Westfälisches Verlagkontor, Essen 1953, p. 482.
  29. ^ Hans-Dietrich Kahl: currents. 1989, especially section “Böhme and Schöll”, pp. 37–39.
  30. ↑ What do you think? 2000, p. 231.
  31. ^ Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian religious community. 1989, p. 36.
  32. ^ Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian religious community. 1989, p. 36; see also Hans-Dieter Kahl: Strömungen , p. 39.
  33. ↑ Hans-Dieter Kahl: Strömungen , p. 37 ff.
  34. ↑ Horst Reller (Ed.): Handbuch Religiöse Gemeinschaft. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1993, p. 375.
  35. ↑ R. Beinhauer: What do you actually think? The German Unitarians - a free religious community . Hamburg / Ravensburg 2000, p. 240 ff.
  36. ↑ Wormser Zeitung from May 26, 2015
  37. ↑ BDUJ eV (Ed.): 40 Years of the Bund deutsch-Unitarischer Jugend eV 1996, p. 5f.
  38. ^ Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian Religionsgemeinschaft, p. 224.
  39. ^ Association for the preparation and implementation of the Meißner meeting 2013 eV (Ed.): Bünde des Meißnerlager 2013, p. 12f.
  40. ^ Website of the HDU Kiel
  41. ↑ http://www.unitates.de Website of the unitates foundation
  42. ↑ Members of the umbrella organization of free ideological communities
  43. ↑ Foundations and development of the DFW
  44. ↑ Principles and self-image of the DFW , goals and tasks of the DFW
  45. ↑ Peter Kratz: Die Götter des New Age , p. 238 ff. (Chapter 5: The brown gods of the "German Unitarians" ).
  46. ↑ Circular to the parishes to withdraw from the German Unitarian Religious Community (DUR) eV, Alzey, September 21, 1953, as well as Alzey circular to the community leaders, Eppelsheim, December 31, 1953; both can be viewed in the archive: Freie Religionsgemeinschaft Alzey, Kdö.R.
  47. ↑ Minutes of the regional community leaders meeting, Alzey, May 2, 1954, p. 3; In the archive: Free Religious Community Alzey, Kdö.R can be viewed
  48. ↑ Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia (ed.): Origin, development and current activity of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. 1956, p. 6 ( online ( memento of July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )).
  49. ↑ Stephan Kalk: On the dispute between Free Protestants and German University members - data and facts on the history of the Free Religious Community Alzey, Kdö.R. (Booklet 1). Published by Freie Religionsgemeinschaft Alzey, Kdö.R., Alzey 1999, p. 30.
  50. ↑ Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian Religionsgemeinschaft , p. 36f.
  51. ↑ unitarian sheets 3/1991, p. 137.
  52. ↑ See the judgment of the Berlin Regional Court of January 23, 1990, p. 11; NJW 1992, p. 2035 ([ Archived copy ( Memento of December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive )]).
  53. ↑ unitarian sheets 4/2011, p. 234f; Kassel Declaration ( Memento from December 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  54. ↑ Unitarian Blätter, Volume 66, July / August 2015, pp. 161f.

Magazines

  • Unitarian leaves. Bimonthly magazine - magazine for holistic religion and culture of the German Unitarian Religionsgemeinschaft eV (from 1978 - before that the magazine was called Glaube und Tat ).

literature

  • Jörg Last: German Paths in Unitarian History. In: Unitarian Blätter, 66th Jahrhang, Issue 04 (July / August) 2015, pp. 163–175 (revised version of a lecture given at the Unitarian Day 2015 in Worms).
  • Georg Schmid, Oswald Eggenberger : Churches, sects, religions. Religious communities, ideological groups and psycho-organizations in the German-speaking area. A manual. Theological Publishing House Zurich, Zurich 2003, pp. 461–462.
  • Andrew M. Hill: Unitarians. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 34, 2002, pp. 332–339, on Germany pp. 335f.
  • What do you think The German Unitarians - a free religious community. Written by a working group and some members of the German Unitarian religious community, Verlag Deutsche Unitarian, Hamburg / Ravensburg 2000, ISBN 3-922483-07-0 .
  • Wolfgang Deppert : Religion and Tolerance. The German Unitarians in the public debate - a statement. In: unitarian hefte 5 , Verlag Deutsche Unitarian, Munich 1992.
  • AS Rösler: The future of the individual and the world in free religion. In: Materialdienst, from the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauungsfragen of the EKD , 54th year 1991 No. 5, pp. 129–140.
  • Wolfgang Deppert, W. Erdt, A. de Groot (eds.): The influence of the Unitarians on the European-American intellectual history. Volume 1 of the Unitarian Research Series, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-631-41859-0 .
  • Hans-Dietrich Kahl : Currents - The German Unitarians since 1945 - a critical review. In: unitarian hefte 4 , Verlag Deutsche Unitarian, Munich 1989.
  • W. Schmidt: German Unitarians, a "religious community" of "non-Christians". In: Materialdienst, from the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauungsfragen of the EKD , 52nd year 1989 No. 6, pp. 178-180.
  • Wolfgang Seibert: German Unitarian religious community. Development, Practice and Organization. A publication of the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauungsfragen, Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-7918-6012-7 .
  • Th. Kayser (Ed.): Meet the Unitarian Universalists. Translation by G. and E. Kramer of the English original by J. Mendelsohn, Lübeck / Hamburg 1985.
  • Friedrich Heyer : German Unitarian and Free Academy. In: Material service. From the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauung questions of the EKD. 41st year 1978 No. 8, pp. 204–212.
  • Religion without a Church: The Movement of the Free Religious. A manual. Edited by Friedrich Heyer, Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1977 (a publication by the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauungsfragen).
  • Friedrich Schöll: God-nature in myth and fairy tale. A book about the all-reality of the divine. Arno Balzer Verlag, Stuttgart 1969.
  • Courage for new faith. On the essence of the German Unitarians. Published by an author collective of the German Unitarian Religious Community, Helmut Soltsien Verlag, Hameln 1963.
  • Rudolf Walbaum: Religious Unitarianism. Kulturaufbau-Verlag, Stuttgart 1946.
  • Peter Kratz: The Gods of the New Age: At the intersection of “New Thinking”, fascism and romanticism. Elefanten Press Verlag, Berlin 1994 (2nd extended edition 2002), chap. 5: The brown gods of the "German Unitarians" ( online edition ).

Web links