When KORSO was founded in 2008 by a number of organizations from the free religious, atheist and humanist scene, the forces that expected the Coordinating Council primarily to discuss and coordinate different interests in the ideological debate prevailed. For example, opposing positions are represented within KORSO in the area of religious and ideological education. For example, while the HVD Berlin-Brandenburg teaches around 70,000 pupils in Berlin alone in humanistic life skills, some secular forces are calling for the abolition of all religious and ideological education.
In recent years, it has not been possible to translate these different positions into a common strategy within KORSO. The HVD Federal Association therefore considers it necessary – in terms of content and strategy – to go its own way. The diversity of the organizations and viewpoints within KORSO repeatedly results in a ‘diversity’ that can no longer be presented coherently. HVD board spokesman Erwin Kress explains: “For more precise and fruitful external communication and political lobbying, we need a relevant overlap in terms of content, otherwise we will not be able to speak together. However, the agreement in our positions is not sufficiently substantial for the HVD to be able to go along with ashift in the focus of KORSO towards lobbying work.”
The HVD understands the desire of many secular forces for greater visibility of the concerns of non-denominational people. It sees the need for non-religious people to be given the same opportunities, the same recognition and the same access to ideologically profiled services and support offers as religious people. It is pursuing this path above all through the consistent development of a practical-humanistic range of services. It wants to offer alternatives, help shape a more humane society and fight in politics to ensure that the representation of non-religious people is better guaranteed in the future. He will continue to pursue these goals with commitment in the future.
On March 27, 2021, the Council of Delegates of the HVD Bundesverband decided to terminate its membership in KORSO. Kress explains: “With this step, we are drawing an honest conclusion from many years of joint struggle, which could not overcome the different emphases and conflicting interests. This gives our positions greater unambiguity and clarity for our allies in politics and society, who rightly want to know what we stand for and what we are committed to.”
Irrespective of this decision, the HVD will maintain and develop common positions with actors in the secular spectrum. And it will engage in joint activities wherever possible. A prominent example of this is the founding of the Bertha-von-Suttner-Studienwerk, a cooperative project between the Humanist Association of Germany, the Humanist Academy of Germany, the Giordano Bruno Foundation and the Federal Association of Humanist Students.
You can read more about the planned strategic partnership between the HVD and KORSO in an interview with Katrin Raczynski (HVD Executive Board) and Rainer Rosenzweig (Chair of KORSO), which was published on hpd.de.
