NAZIS AND THE CHURCHES

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 17 September 1934, Page 5

NAZIS AND THE CHURCHES

Sensational Developments Follow Sermon at Munich BISHOP ISSUES CHALLENGE MEETINGS OF PROTEST .United iV-ss Association —By Electric TelegrapV Copyright.) Received 1.30 p.m. to-day. MUNICH, Sept. 10. A sensational development in the struggle between Dr. Mueller and the Evangelical bishops followed a sermon by Dr. Mies or, Bishop of the Bavarian Church, deploring lire Nazi attacks on dissenting bishops. Crowds inside and outside the church sang the Lutheran fighting hymn, “Our God a Tower of Strength is He,” the first time it has been heard in Munich streets since the reformation. Nazi flying squads attempted to disperse the crowds, some of whom assembled outside the Brown. House, still singing the hymn. Dr. Marahrens, Bishop of Hangver, has issued a further challenge to Dr. Mueller claiming that four-fifths of the clergy in the diocese will support him. He declared that whoever concentrates on outward unity and seeks to compel it by force, disregarding conscience, destroys the true unity of the church and endangers the unity of the nation. M. Siebert, the Bavarian Premier, speaking at Neerdlingen, warned dissenters that, the Reich would not tolerate the appearance of schisms. “The Times” Berlin correspondent says that indignant crowds held meetings of protest against Dr. Wurni’s suspension and roughly handled Nazi functionaries. Dr. Wurrn refuses to recognise the validity of the suspension and continues to claim the leadership of the regional church, chough he is unable to gain eccles)’.stical buildings. . _ The decree ordering church officials to take the oath Herr Hitler prescribed for public officials and soldiers is also causing widespread trouble. Almost half of the 16,000 pastors in Germany have resolved to resist it.