CHURCH AND STATE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22193, 9 September 1937, Page 12

CHURCH AND STATE

Position In Russia And Germany

DIFFERENCE OF ATTITUDE

The position of the churches in Russia and Germany, as affected by the political ideas of the governments of those countries, was explained by Mr W. H. Kerridge in an address to the Left Book Club last evening, when Mr G. T. Alley presided. Mr Kerridge summed up his conclusions by stating that Russia had separated the church entirely from the State, but Germany wanted to bring the church into line with the State. The church in Russia before the revolution had been State aided and State recognised, several million pounds from the taxes each year going direct to it, said Mr Kerridge. As it was a State church, its priests were regarded in old Russia as a sort of spiritual police. It had been very hostile to all dissenters and all Roman Catholics, and it was certainly not very kind to the Jews. Disestablishment in Russia After the abdication of the Tsar the Kerensky Government was in power six months before the Bolsheviks took control. Even that government had made up its mind to disestablish the Russian church. When the Bolsheviks came into power they issued a decree separating church and State, and all the property of the church was confiscated. In addition, the primary schools, which had been in the hands of the church, were taken from it. It was not surprising, therefore, that the Russian church became bitterly anti-revolutionary, and supported counter-revolutionary forces. It lost no time in preaching that the Soviet power was anti-Christ, and that those supporting it would be excommunicated. The Bolsheviks were convmced that the church was in league with the oppressor, and their propagandists lost no time in telling the people so. Anti-religious propaganda, directed at first entirely against the State church, was begun, and antireligious museums were opened. In the first few years these were really horrible. Position of the Kulaks These first onslaughts of religious persecution were almost entirely confined to the State Church. Later, when the Bolsheviks began to collectivise the farms, they came up against the various dissenting churches. Many of the wealthier peasants, or Kulaks, were dissenters, and these resisted attempts to socialise the land. As they were dissenters, it came about that the dissenting churches moved to a position of opposition to the Bolsheviks. The churches were never officially closed by the Bolsheviks. The decree disestablishing the Church and confiscating its property had the effect of making it impossible to keep all the churches open, for lack of money. If there were 20 members of a congregation, contributing on a voluntary basis. a church could remain open. When Mr Kerijdge was last in Russia in 1935 many churches were open, and many were closed, but those that were open were packed. The anti-religious propaganda in Russia was not now as bitter as it was at first. The early Bolsheviks were bitter, but the attitude of the young Russian now was indifference rather than hostility. The purpose of the anti-religious museums now was to explain religion, which was more I dangerous, for the explanation was from the Bolshevik point of view. Students had no actual anti-religious instruction, but attended lectures on comparative religion. They were not forbidden to go to church, but were left to make their own decisions. Developments in Germany In Germany, the position was more interesting, because Germany was in the middle of its religious struggle. Germany had six main religious groups. The first was the State Lutheran Church. Many of its members belonged to the Confessional Synod, which was protesting against Herr Hitler's activities. Next were tlie so-called "German Christians," who were antagonistic to Judaism. Christ, they said, was Himself antiJew. Then there were the Catholics, who represented about one-third of the German people. They were led by Cardinal Faulhaber, of Munich, who had written books fiercely opposing the Nazi ideals. He declared that Christianity was a development out of Judaism. The German Dissenters were a small group. In all the present confusion thev had least to complain of, because in one way they were given a sort of religious freedom they had not possessed before. The fifth group comprised the Pagans, of whom much was heard. They wanted to do away with the whole Christian conception, which they said was too Semitic for Teutonic Germans. They were not, however, trying to revive the worship of the old German gods—Wotan and the others. The sixth group comprised those who did advocate the worship of these gods, and who wished to destroy Christianity in Germany. State Help for Church The German Lutheran Church was in part State-supported, differing in status from the Church of England, however, in that it received money directly from the exchequer. As part of the wages of the Lutheran pastors came from the State —from which also they received their pensions—the Nazi Government had them in a vice. They were regarded as civil servants, with corresponding allegiances. Herr Hitler was a nominal Roman Catholic, and to a Roman Catholic all other religious bodies were much of a muchness. He adopted very much that attitude. He desired to unify Germany, and as. an extension of that idea wanted to unify the Protestants, but found that the State Church was divided into 28 completely autonomous provinces. He had created a bishop of the Lutheran Church and had put Bishop Muller in power to bring these people together. His quarrel with the Catholics had developed also because of his desire for unity. There had been a definite Catholic political party, and his attitude was that the Catholics could have their churches but could not have a separate political party. There had been the Catholic youth movement; but he had opposed this because it tended to divide the German people into definite groupings. The latest trouble was about the Catholic schools, for he would not have any religious body controlling education, and in one swoop the Catholics had their schools taken from them. There was a great difference between the attitudes of Germany and Russia to religion. In Russia, the people in power would have nothing to do with the Church. In Germany, I Herr Hitler wanted the Church to 1 work with the Government and he would not disestablish it.