The Basic Law establishes the Federal Republic of Germany as an ideologically neutral state. Article 140 stipulates the equal treatment of religious and ideological communities. However, the social and political reality is different: The Christian religion and traditional churches in particular remain heavily privileged. Non-religious people and their representatives are far too little involved in the political debate. The Humanist Association of Germany, as a recognized worldview community, has therefore written to the Federal Ministry of the Interior calling on it to include other worldview communities as representatives of the growing number of non-religious people in Germany in the planned talks on cooperative relations between the state and the churches. Seehofer had called for a broad debate on this topic at the end of August. When asked, his ministry announced that talks were to be held with representatives of the churches and Muslim associations.
“Over a third of the population living in Germany does not belong to any religious community. In large cities, the proportion is even higher,” says Grit Lahmann, Managing Director of the HVD Bundesverband. “It is long overdue for the interests of non-religious people to be given greater consideration when discussing ethical issues and coexistence in our society. Both the structure of cooperation between the state and ideological communities and state funding must reflect the plurality of religious and ideological denominations. The HVD is available here as a competent discussion partner.”
