500. The anniversary of the Reformation is a good occasion to debate modern religious policy

There was and is criticism of the Reformation celebrations with state participation. What is the state celebrating in 2017? And what is the church celebrating? Is the Reformation a reason to celebrate at all, what is actually being commemorated and remembered? Should the state be involved in this anniversary or is it solely a religious matter? How is the relationship between church and society developing when, on the one hand, membership numbers are falling and, on the other, churches are becoming increasingly important as partners in many areas of civil society, be it in social issues, in supporting refugees or in dealing with right-wing populism? In the panel discussion in the French Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt, Frieder Otto Wolf criticized the state subsidies for the Reformation anniversary and the preceding “Luther Decade”. These had been distributed one-sidedly and had thus given the “Protestant church alone the opportunity to communicate its version of the Reformation”, said Wolf. He also spoke out against public funding for church congresses if funding is not available for comparable events organized by other religious or ideological groups. No financial support was granted by the state or the municipality for the Humanist Day held in Nuremberg this year. From his perspective, the anniversary year of the Reformation offers another good opportunity to address the grievances in the relationship between the state and churches as well as the members of humanist world views or smaller religions who are currently negatively affected by the status quo. Today, it is important to further develop the religious political order in line with the model of cooperative secularism laid down in the Basic Law. However, this should not be taken to mean that any cooperation between state and ideological or religious institutions should generally be ruled out. With regard to the churches, appropriate forms of cooperation, such as religious education in schools, have contributed a great deal to the civilization of these religions in Germany. He agreed with Reformation anniversary ambassador Margot Käßmann that coalitions for peace, social justice and against racism will continue to be important across denominational boundaries in the future. Frieder Otto Wolf also agreed with Berlin’s Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer (DIE LINKE) that in an ideologically and religiously pluralistic society, church membership numbers could no longer be used as an absolute benchmark for participation and involvement. The panel discussion was organized by the Evangelische Akademie Berlin in cooperation with rbb inforadio.