EU German churches warn conservatives against immigration crackdown

German churches warn conservatives against immigration crackdown
Reuters (archive.ph)
By Reuters Staff
2025-01-28 23:30:54GMT

BERLIN, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The German Catholic and Protestant churches warned on Tuesday against the conservative opposition's plan to crack down on immigration, which they said could break a convention against mainstream parties cooperating with the far-right.

"The timing and tone of the current debate appear deeply strange to us. It is likely to defame all migrants living in Germany, to stir up prejudices and, in our opinion, does not contribute to solving the real issues," the representatives of both churches wrote in a joint letter to parliament seen by Reuters.

Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's CDU/CSU conservative block which is leading polls ahead of the Feb. 23 election, is set to propose plans to restrict migration that could pass with the help of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The anti-immigration, anti-Islam AfD is labelled as right-wing extremist by German security services but is currently polling second in nationwide surveys before the upcoming snap election in the country, where the debate on immigration intensified after a string of violent attacks by foreign-born suspects.

"The two major churches hereby point out that, according to current knowledge, the proposed changes to the law would not have prevented any of the attacks," wrote Prelate Anne Gidion, the representative of the German Protestant Churches Council (EKD) and Prelate Karl Juesten, the head of the Commissariat of German Bishops.

The churches stressed that the CDU/CSU is risking breaking a taboo on cooperation with the far-right for the first time in German post-war history.

"We fear that German democracy will suffer massive damage if this political promise is abandoned," they wrote.

The CDU, or the Christian Democratic Union, and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), often commonly related as the "Union", were founded shortly after World War Two, and represent an "honest reflection of Christian and Western values", according to the CDU's website.

According to the latest church statistics from the Interior Ministry, about half of the German population belongs to Christian churches, with the Catholic and Protestant denominations represented in nearly equal proportions.

Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Andrey Sychev; Editing by Stephen Coates

 

[Trump's Chosen]

If you don't want more islam, you're not a real christian.

 

[Pokemon Conquistador]

Let's implement a new rule: If your people are atheist coomers who hate themselves and dick-suck muslim immigrants, they don't get to have an official Church.

 

[Harvey Danger]

"The two major churches hereby point out that, according to current knowledge, the proposed changes to the law would not have prevented any of the attacks,"

Sounds like the changes need to be stricter. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

I hope Germany gets your own version of Tom Homan, and soon.

 

[Vlinny-kun]

They are not Christians, period. They are propagandists.

 

[Magicicada_septendecula]

Churches should stay out of politics or be taxed punitively. When searching to find out if they have the same exemptions they do in my country, I found the Germans have a "church tax" that gets taken out of their income to fund the churches. You can claim atheism and exempt yourself from the tax, but that costs money and requires paperwork.

 

[Would]

The German Catholic and Protestant churches

Luther weeps as he sees his flock go back to the same devils he sought to flee.
Orthodoxy or bust.

 

[Outer Space Traveller]

They are not Christians, period. They are propagandists.

I don't pity them when they have to answer to Jesus Christ. They'll get what they will deserve.

 

[KingNothing]

>German churches

The artificial intelligence chatbot asked the believers in the fully packed St. Paul's church in the Bavarian town of Fuerth to rise from the pews and praise the Lord. The ChatGPT chatbot, personified by an avatar of a bearded Black man on a huge screen above the altar, then began preaching to the more than 300 people who had shown up on Friday morning for an experimental Lutheran church service almost entirely generated by AI.

 

[Formica Sample]

Churches should stay out of politics or be taxed punitively. When searching to find out if they have the same exemptions they do in my country, I found the Germans have a "church tax" that gets taken out of their income to fund the churches. You can claim atheism and exempt yourself from the tax, but that costs money and requires paperwork.

The real issue this causes is that the laity can't make their opinions known by withholding donations. Have a terrible priest or bishop? He doesn't care if you don't put any money in the collection basket, because he's getting money from the government. He doesn't have to care what you think, because he's getting his money either way.

It doesn't help that the German Catholic bishops have gone so far left that even Pope Francis was telling them to chill out. I mean, he didn't actually do anything, but the fact he said anything at all about their radicalism shows how bad it's gotten in Germany.

The worst part is, of the Catholics I've spoken to, almost all of them say they would happily open their wallets if the clergy would just preach the Gospel. That's it. That's literally it. Quit it with the politics. Stop with the social justice causes. Just preach what Scripture says, and Catholics will donate.

Unfortunately, most of the clergy are more interested in being political activists than shepherds. May God have mercy on the souls they've led astray.

 

[Molag Bal]

Trust the church to always betray the peoples of Europe in favor of its Jewish masters at every single turn.
Never defend christians when the left or muslims go after them.
Total christian death.

If I could have my way, possession of christian paraphernalia would be outlawed and every single christian would be nailed to a cross.

 

[VargReallyDidNothingWrong]

The two major churches hereby point out that, according to current knowledge, the proposed changes to the law would not have prevented any of the attacks

What about the hundreds of other attacks over the past decade, ever since Mutti let in all those "Syrians"?