Next Saturday, January 17, 2015, the first religious policy congress of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen will take place in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. On the occasion of the congress entitled “In the name of freedom: religion, state and society in conflict?”, the Humanist Association of Germany has published a compact summary of positions and leitmotifs on the most important religious policy issues. The President of the Humanist Association of Germany, Frieder Otto Wolf, will take part in the congress alongside leading politicians from Alliance 90/The Greens and high-caliber representatives of the religions. The topics of the religious policy congress will be shaped by the socio-political and sometimes highly controversial question of how the relationship between the state and religious and ideological communities should be rebalanced against the backdrop of an increasingly pluralized and individualized society. Among other things, the congress will present the results of the religious policy commission set up by the federal party executive at the end of 2013. In a total of six panel discussions and a concluding panel discussion, leading politicians from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen will discuss current issues and problems with representatives of the churches, Jewish and Muslim communities and experts from universities, civil rights organizations, the media and civil society. The party-political initiative to establish an open dialog with representatives of smaller religious and ideological communities is clearly acknowledged in the recently published summary of the positions and guiding principles of the Humanist Association. “By including us in discussions about the need for political reform in Germany, Alliance 90/The Greens is confirming its good reputation as a high-profile representative of the interests of disadvantaged minorities,” it says. It goes on to say that the members of the association “advocate and demand a peaceful and equal coexistence of people in Germany, without any discrimination based on their religious and ideological beliefs.” The document summarizes the positions and arguments of the Humanist Association of Germany in five sections on the topics of finances and state benefits, church labor law, denomination-oriented religious and ideological education, public recognition and legal equality as well as religion and ideology in the public sphere. In terms of content, these are shaped by decades of practical experience gained by the association as a worldview community and representative of the interests of non-religious people and as the sponsor of more than 100 social, cultural, educational and other projects across Germany. Erwin Kress, President of the Humanist Association of North Rhine-Westphalia, who will also be a guest at the congress in the Düsseldorf state parliament this weekend, also emphasized the pioneering role played here by Bündnis 90/Die Grünen at both federal and state level at the presentation on Tuesday afternoon in Dortmund.
He went on to say: “Humanists who live their lives without religious references assume responsibility in our country’s society in the same way as people with religious beliefs. For this reason, they must also receive equal recognition and equal rights, especially in view of increasing secularization. Discrimination against or exclusion of members of religious minorities must have just as little place in the laws and policies of an ideologically neutral state as discrimination against people who do not share a religious denomination. Because fundamental rights do not only apply to those who form the majority.”
