Mormon temple in E. Germany

Press, 13 July 1985, Page 11

Mormon temple in E. Germany

By

RALPH BOULTON,

of

Reuter (through NZPA) Freiberg, East Germany The opening of Eastern Europe’s first Mormon temple highlights what many see as a confident gamble by the Communist Party in its battle for the hearts and minds of East Germany’s Western-influenced youth. The consecration of the tabernacle, which crowned years of negotiations by the American-based sect, followed in the spirit of (Communist leader) Erich Honecker’s recent meeting with the head of the Protestant church and his audience with the Pope in Rome. Some 90,000 people, many of them young, filed through the white-stone temple in two weeks, gathering literature and asking questions. Mormons said that they hoped for new members but Communist officials brushed off the crowds as just natural curiosity. Western diplomats say that such accommodation with religious groups reflects the party’s confidence that its ideological grip on

youth is not under threat. Newspapers even carried a report on a meeting of Christian members of the F.D.J. Communist Youth League. Schools emphasise Marxist ideology but are at pains not to offend with open antiChurch propaganda. As long as the Church “gives unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” the State remains aloof. Church meetings or alternative “festivals” no longer appear to draw the close attention of security officials that they did two years ago during the buildup to deployment of new American and Soviet nuclear missiles in Europe. The Church drew then official disapproval for criticising Soviet as well as American weapons and provided a discreet platform for protest singers and critical theatre. As one cleric commented, the Church accommodates hundreds of young people who are not Christians but seek an alternative to rigid State political doctrine. A “peace workshop”, with exhibitions and discussions

about taboo subjects such as pacifism, homosexuality, and pollution, took place at an East Berlin church recently with little more than cursory identity-checks of people arriving at local urban railway stations. Previous workshops had drawn far more official attention. “They (the authorities) no longer see these sorts of events as a threat,” one visitor said. But the workshop was less daring in its criticism of State policies than some of its predecessors. The visitor said of such events these days, “They’re a kind of safety valve or ‘happening’ where people can vent their feelings, but the old spirit of protest has gone.” Many attribute this growing caution to a temporary relaxation of emigration rules last year, which allowed the biggest Westward exodus since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. Among 40,000 who left were many discontented priests, who packed their bags despite appeals from the Church.

Although Church and party still have differing views on freedom of speech and the role of the State, the party seems to have created a basis for mutual tolerance through its readiness to deal with the Protestant leader, Bishop Johannes Hempel. Some domestic critics believe that the Protestant hierarchy is exposing vestiges of its traditional historical role as the former Prussian “State Church.” The Catholic Church spurns closer State contacts,

and some officials privately expressed misgivings about Mr Honecker’s meeting with the Pope. Yet meetings with Catholic and Protestant leaders have clearly eased the situation of smaller groups such as the Mormons, who number some 5000. Christian Scientists have been allowed to receive literature from the United States since last year, and other groups are also seeking common ground with the State. Like the Mormons, they will be expected to tone down their missionary zeal.