CHURCHES in Germany, in a joint campaign to discourage political extremism, before the federal elections a week on Sunday, have condemned demands for drastic new restrictions on immigration.
“It is claimed that limiting migration and increasing deportations should help prevent future attacks like those committed over recent months in Solingen, Magdeburg, and Aschaffenburg,” the Evangelical Church’s (EKD’s) Council said in a joint statement with the German Roman Catholic Bishops’ Office in Berlin.
“According to current knowledge, however, these proposed law changes would not have prevented any of these attacks. . . From our Churches’ viewpoint, these acts highlighted a lack of information exchanges between various authorities and a blatant lack of care for the mentally ill.”
The message was issued for a Bundestag debate on a new Influx Limitation Bill, tabled by Germany’s centre-Right Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, with support from the hard-Right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
It said that the new Bill’s aim of blocking family-reunification rights for migrants, on the grounds that Germany’s “integration capacities” were exhausted, would violate the constitution, or Basic Law, and 2008 Residence and Asylum Acts, as well as the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.
The Bill was also deplored by Bishop Kirsten Fehrs, the Acting Chair of the EKD Council, who said that she understood the “anger mixed with sadness and helplessness” which had followed the three terrorist attacks, most recently at Aschaffenburg on 22 January, but also urged politicians to defend the right to asylum.
“Millions of people worldwide are on the run, many risking their lives to escape persecution and seek better living conditions — these people need our help,” Bishop Fehrs told the weekly magazine Focus at the weekend.
“Current discussions on migration centre too much on deterrence and fuelling prejudice against immigrants, with everything focused in heated public debates on a small number of violent offenders. . . This distorted image unjustifiably places all refugees under suspicion.”
Federal elections to the 733-seat Bundestag were brought forward from September by the loss of a mid-December vote of confidence by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition of Social Democrats, Free Democrats, and Greens.
The coalition, currently claiming 413 seats, hopes to retain power against the CDU and CSU, which hold 196, and against smaller parties, including the AfD, which holds 76.
German security officials have warned, however, of interference from Russia and the US tycoon Elon Musk, who backed the AfD at a rally in Halle on 25 January.
In joint election guidelines, published in January, EKD and Roman Catholic leaders committed their Churches to providing space for “critical debates” on “humane migration, social justice, and measures to preserve creation”, while also facilitating “conscientious voting decisions”.
They went on to say that the “dignity of every human being” was based, for Christians, “on the biblical image that God has bestowed on all, regardless of nationality, culture, or skin colour”, and urged Germans not to “fall behind in this fundamental conviction.”
“Democracy guarantees preservation of the freedom, dignity, and rights of every individual by giving all citizens a voice — it cannot be taken for granted, but needs care and commitment,” say the church guidelines, which have been accompanied by social-media and poster campaigns.
“Sadly, we are seeing democracy increasingly called into question in our country. . . So we encourage voters to engage heart and mind with the various programmes, along with those who shape politics. Human dignity, charity, and solidarity can guide us in the struggle for good solutions.”
German media commentators said that the Influx Limitation Bill could be re-tabled after being narrowly defeated by 349 votes to 338 on 31 January in the Bundestag, and reflected a bid by the CDU and CSU to divert support from the AfD in favour of their candidate for Chancellor, Friedrich Merz.
The electoral tactics behind the Bill, which would strengthen police powers to detain migrants before deportation, have also been condemned by lay groups from both Churches, including the Central Committee of German Churches and the Protestant Diakonie.
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