The Press MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1934. The Religious Struggle in Germany

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21247, 20 August 1934, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1934. The Religious Struggle in Germany

~j Hjerr Hitler's speech at Hamburg summarised in the cable news thi n morning, contains one significan '! contradiction. After explaining wh; he had been so indecently precipi 0 tate in .seizing the presidency, Her 0 Hitler proclaimed once more hi 0 determination to " root out partie P " and unite the people." Then, re 2 membering perhaps that he was in ; 2 Lutheran stronghold, he added 1! " The German revolution has beei 2 "completed. I will honestly protec " the rights of the two great Chris j! " tian religions." If Ilerr Hitler hac 15 been a litlle more familiar with tin ;; history of his step-fatherland hi 8 would have realised that nowhen in the world is the idea of non [j party government less compatibh with religious freedom than ii 8 Germany. The compromise betweer church and .state worked out ir most countries since the Reforma " tion depends, not upon a nice dis 7 tincfion—for fundamentally no dis j tinction is possible—between I.lk spheres of secular and ecclesiastica 3 authority, but upon the spirit o! tolerance and upon a recognitior that no one institution is competent to regulate all human relationships and activities. The compromise i> possible only so Jong as the state is not regarded as the final, absolute, and all-embracing form ol human organisation; and it is there- ' fore incompatible with the Nazi ideal of the state. Moreover, there 1 arc special reasons which make a " reconciliation between church and ; slate in Germany extremely difficult. Both the Protestant and the Roman Catholic churches in Ger--1 many stand for characteristics in 1 German social and intellectual life 3 which National Socialism is striv--5 ing to eliminate. The Protestant church, with its strong local affiliations and its lack of a central directing force, is a symbol of the obstinate local patriotisms of the German people. The Roman Catholic church, behind which is the shadowy outline of the Holy Roman Empire, is the symbol of a vague, almost mystical internationalism which is the other side of German local patriotism. National Socialism, it should be remembered, is not an expression of German national feeling; it is a violent protest against, the lack of such feeling, an attempt to force its development. In their organisation and in their teaching the churches in Germany, Protectant and Roman Catholic, are an obstacle to that development. So far, the Roman Catholic church has fared better under Hitler than have the Protestant churches. The concordat with Rome .signed by Hcrr von Papen in July, 1933, leaves German Catholics free to : organise as they, see fit, to remain . in close touch with Rome, and to ' conduct their own schools, the sole 1 stipulation being that they are to , take no part as an organised body | in politics in opposition to the I Nazi regime. As was perhaps inevitable, the interpretation of this document has aroused serious disi putes; and the Goering faction in Ibe National Socialist movement has made no secret of its antipathy | to Rome. Most of the Catholic newspapers have been suspended on one pretext or another, and strenu- ; ous efforts are now being made to suppress Catholic youth organisations. Yet on the whole the honours iof battle are with the Catholics. ! Priests have courageously defied, without punishment, government edicts which they deem an infringement of the concordat, while in Munich, the very heart of the National Socialist movement, Cardinal Faulhaber has denounced the pagan tendencies of Hitlerism with startling freedom. The German Government's restraint is due not to tolerance but to expediency. The Saar is predominantly Catholic; and until the plebiscite has taken place it would clearly be unwise to begin " co-ordinating " German Catholics. The Catholic leaders have no illusions on this point. Cardinal Faulhaber insists that the struggle is only beginning; and very wisely he has declared that Catholics and Protestants have a common interest in its outcome. German Protestantism, or that section of it which holds out for religious freedom, has fared very badly in its conflict with the Third Reich. The truth is that the Protestant, churches were ; in no condition to withstand the! shock of the Nazi revolution. When I German Protestantism should have] been able to speak clearly, it had j a multitude of voices; and when it j should have been able to act decisively it was without any unity of purpose. That is the main reason why the " German Christians," a small minority of German Protestantism, have been able to dominate the whole situation. Dr. Mueller, I-lerr Hitler's nominee, is " Reichs- " bischof," the evangelical bishops have sworn unconditional allegiance to him, and the German Christians • are in a majority on most of the important synods. But the victory lias not been as complete as it seems. The Pastors' Emergency , League, led by Dr. Niemoeller, has (

now a membership of nearly 7000 and its campaign for doctrinal freedom constitutes perhaps the first organised challenge to the authority of the Nazi state. The wider implications of the religious struggle in Germany should not be ignored. The issue is not local and temporal; it is universal and recurs in every age. The German churches are fighting a battle which before long will be fought in many other countries—the battle against the absoTuflst ■ state, against a system of government which crushes freedom of thought, exalts prejudice and l bigotry, and turns its back on the essential unity of mankind. Christians in other countries can take new courage in the thought that, alone among German institutions, the churches have had the strength and Hie vision to stand firm against the excessive claims of Jlitlerism. The immediate outcome may be in doubt.. The final outcome can only be a clearer formulation of the Christian ideal of life and a reemergence of the churches as the defenders of sanity and reason.