An article with this title is part of the book Religion, Konfessionslosigkeit und Atheismus, recently published by Herder. The author is Michael Bauer, board member of the HVD Bayern and co-author of the report Gläserne Wände zur Benachteiligung nichtreligiöser Menschen in Deutschland.
In his article, Bauer first outlines the directions and forces from which Germany’s religious policy to date has come under pressure and explains in which areas the most urgent need for reform and renewal has arisen in the relationship between the state, religions and world views from a humanist perspective. “In the traditional framework of religious policy, these forces often converge in an opening or expansion of the existing system of relations, which is usually not itself called into question,” he states in his introduction and emphasizes that a change in the political approach to these issues should now be given the greatest attention. Bauer argues in favor of a modern ideological regulatory policy in which the ideological plurality of the Federal Republic can express itself in a contemporary way and which puts an end to the existing discrimination of non-denominational and non-religious people. Due to his more than 15 years of experience as managing director and board member of one of the largest state associations of the Humanist Association of Germany, he can base his presentation on a particularly broad and excellently founded spectrum of experience and perspectives that is probably only available to a few people in Germany for this subject area. In his article, Michael Bauer describes an important step in the implementation of a contemporary ideological regulatory policy as the actual realization of the attitude actually provided for by the Basic Law in the sense of cooperative secularism on the part of the state or state institutions. He admits that resistance is to be expected. However, he also emphasizes: “The political costs of such a readjustment of the field of religious policy appear to be negligible compared to the opportunities that a genuine equal treatment of religions and world views offers, especially for the coming integration society. Including the existing plurality in the cooperation between the state and civil society and making it fruitful would not only express our cultural wealth, but ultimately even increase it,” concludes Michael Bauer.
About the book
More than a third of Germans are non-denominational – and the trend is rising. While there is a great deal of effort to achieve interreligious understanding, dialog between religious and non-religious people rarely takes place. The volume Religion, Non-denominationalism & Atheism, commissioned by the Eugen Biser Foundation and edited by the philosopher Martin Thurner and the philosopher Katja Thörner, presents controversial positions on topics such as religious policy, euthanasia and theodicy from a Christian and non-religious perspective and places them in relation to one another. In addition to the editors and Michael Bauer, the authors of the 15 articles contained in the book include the sociologist of religion Gert Pickel, the philosopher Franz Josef Wetz and the philosopher Dieter Birnbacher. The book, which is available in hardback at a price of 24.99 euros, can be ordered here: www.herder.de
