BITTER STRUGGLE

Northern Advocate, 17 September 1934, Page 5

BITTER STRUGGLE

GERMAN CHURCH FACTIONS

DISSENTING BISHOPS

STRANGE SCENES IN MUNICH

(United Press Association—By Electric

Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received noon.)

MUNICH, September 16. - A sensational development in the struggle between the Bishop of the Reich, Dr. Mueller, and the Evangelical Bishop followed a sermon preached by Dr. Meiser, Bishop of Bavaria, deploring Nazi attacks on dissenting bishops.

Crowds inside and outside of the church sang the Lutheran fighting hymn, “Our God, a Tower of Strength is He.” This was 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 Hanover, issued a further challenge to Dr. Mueller, claiming that four-fifths of the clergy hi the diocese had supported him, has declared that whoever contemplates outward unity and seeks to compel it by focje, disregarding conscience, destroys the true unity of the church and endangers the unity of the nation.

Herr Siebert, the Bavarian Premier, speaking at Neerelingen, warned dissenters that the Reich would not tolerate the appearance of schisms. The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” says indignant crowds at meetings held to protest against the suspension of Dr. Wurm, Leader of the German Regional Church, roughly handled Nazi functionaires. Dr. Wurm refuses to recognise the validity of his suspension, and continues to claim leadership of the Regional Church, although he is unable to gain admission to ecclesiastical buildings. A decree ordex'ing church officials to take the oath to Herr Hitler, which has been prescribed for public officials and soldiers, is also causing widespread trouble. Almost half of the 16,000 pastors in Germany are resolved to resist him.