A signal against social division

Today, on 9 November, the third session of the 12th Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) closed with a service in St. Paul’s Church, Magdeburg. “The Synod has sent a signal against social division and for the overcoming of borders between nations and religions,” said the Irmgard Schwaetzer, president of the EKD Synod. “As Christians we bear responsibility for an open society shaped by neighborly love and encounter.”

Schwaetzer also referred to the outcome of the presidential election in the United States. “The first analyses made it clear that the result was influenced by people who feel left behind and not heard.” In its declaration on the focal theme, Synod stated clearly that this challenge also existed in the European Union and its member states.

This morning Synod unanimously adopted a declaration on “Europe in Solidarity – Protestant insights”. In it, Synod comes out in favor of a social-minded Europe that, as a value-based community, advocates for solidarity and justice. “Nine out of ten people in Germany want the European Union to pay more attention to those who are especially vulnerable,” said Schwaetzer. “That is a mandate in itself.” According to the declaration, Europe has not yet fully exhausted its democratic, economic and social potential. Furthermore: “In the long run, only a united Europe will be able to guarantee its citizens peace, social justice, prosperity, democracy and the rule of law.”

The declaration pays special attention to the refugee situation: “The question of how to deal with refugees has revealed political and institutional weakness in the European Union.” The refugee issue confronts the EU with the question of the extent to which it can operate internally on the basis of solidarity. “In order to end the dying at the external borders we stand up for safe and legal pathways for refugees into the EU,” the declaration continues. It also criticizes the current reform of the Dublin system. Instead of curtailing the rights of asylum seekers, the fundamental rights of refugees should be enshrined in a common European asylum system.

“The EKD Synod says yes to a Europe of peace, reconciliation and justice,” the declaration concludes, calling for a broad-based dialogue on the future of Europe. “After all, Europe is all of us.”

In her sermon at the closing service, on Revelations 12:7-12a Praeses Annette Kurschus, deputy chair of the EKD Council, stressed: “Where the bad, the terrible and the evil are discussed for too long, they increase rather than dwindling away. (…) The whole world is not bad, evil, spoiled, cynical, brutal or silent. No – there is a place that is not corrupt. There is a power that is not hostile. There is a world that is whole. Already.”

Magdeburg, 9 November 2016

EKD Press Office
Carsten Splitt

About the EKD Synod:  The EKD Synod, with the Council and Church Conference, is one of the three governing bodies of the EKD. It is convening from 6 to 9 November in Magdeburg. In accordance with the EKD’s constitution, the 12th Synod has 120 members. The assignments of Synod include drafting declarations and decisions on contemporary questions and accompanying the work of the EKD Council by issuing guidelines. Synod also discuses and adopts the budget and church laws. Synod is chaired by a body of moderators (presidium), under its president Irmgard Schwaetzer. She is also a member of the 15-person EKD Council to be elected in Bremen. Chair of the EKD Council is the Lutheran Bishop of Bavaria, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. The EKD is a community of 20 Lutheran, Reformed and United regional churches in Germany. 22.3 million Protestants belong to one of the 14,412 congregations.