Saturday, September 14, 2013

Churches Are Burning in Lower Saxony: Where's the Outcry?

It is time for clear words in the national and free churches says "idea" chief editor. Ein Gastkommentar von Wolfgang Polzer.


Niedersachsen (kath.net/www.idea.de) Three Evangelical Churches were burned within a month in Lower Saxony. Were they mosques or synagogues - God forbid - The outcry in the world and abroad would have been great. But it remains comparatively quiet, why?


Arson is No Game

In the night of the 30th of July the Lutheran Church of Willehadi in Garbsen in Hannover almost completely burned down, on the 5th of August the door of the Reformed Church Community in Hammeln was in flames, and on the 31st of August the Baptist Friedenskirche Braunschweig was heavily damaged by arson.

In all of the cases there are no suspects; and for that reason no over hasty incriminations. Church authorities have maintained that the arsonists were young rowdies, who are engaging in fun of a dubious kind. Then there were an increasingly large number of cases of arson: baby carriages and garbage cans are bursting into flames. In Garbsen two youth bands are making the „Auf der Horst“ neighborhood unsafe. That's not fun.

Religious Freedom Threatened

It's not possible to have eyes closed to all concerns about social cooperation, threatened by a burgeoning of violence and of rowdiness among the youth with "immigrant mentalities", to be indifferent as to what orientation, or what religious background they possess. Thus it's concerning above all then, that extreme rightist a cook their brown soup over the flames of churches: now it's happening in the open.

The National and Free Churches in Lower Saxony should make a statement. Because here the buildings are not only badly damaged, but also religious freedom.

We must not permit in Germany that Christians, Jews , Muslims or the adherents of other religions, should have their places of prayer protected by the police as it unfortunately the case is, for example in Egypt, Nigeria or Indonesia.

http://kath.net/news/42713

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