What the world can learn from Münster

When I read the first news about the vehicle that drove into a café in the German town of Münster last Saturday I was shocked. Not because the incident happened – in a way I’m getting used to news like this but because of the place where it happened. I lived in Münster for five years between 2010 and 2015 and the place of the attack was only a maximum five minutes walk from my home and it’s a place I surely have passed over 100 times. I’m grateful that no one of my friends, who are still living there where injured or killed in the attack. In a way I was also relieved when it became clear that the perpetrator was neither a Muslim nor a refugee, because so it is harder to use the attack to spread Islamophobia and fears against refugees and asylum seekers (even if right wing activist where still trying to do so…).

A lot of people outside of Germany might not have heard about Münster before the attack or might not know a lot about it. And if they know something about Münster it might be that it’s Germany “bicycle capital”, that it has a large university, that it has a beautiful (destroyed and reconstructed) old town or that it won a price as one of the most liveable places in the world in 2004. Today I want to tell you the story of Münster as a place which has a long history of anti-radicalism and peace building – especially between faith communities.

Münster Town Hall: Von Florian Adler (schlendrian) – Eigenes Werk, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=334070

Münster exists since the time of Charlemagne and is home of a Roman-Catholic diocese since the year 800. Because of this long lasting history (Catholic) Christianity is still relatively dominant in Münster’s city culture and visible through a lot of (huge) churches all over the area. The first time Münster became really important for (world) history was in the year 1534. As part of the protestant reformation radical “Anabaptists” established a theocracy in Münster. Only a (united!) military force of Catholics and Protestants was able to establish the former order in the town after about one year of resistance. Of course neither the Anabaptist with their theocracy nor the military action by Protestants and Catholics a good example how to deal with differing religious views – but this experience and the remembrance of it might have helped the citizens to be very sceptical against any kind of extremism.

The next time Münster became important in world history – and this is probably the moment when Münster was most prominent in its long lasting history – was in 1648. After 30 years of war in Germany, in which all major European powers have been involved and more than 100 years of conflict as a result of the protestant reformation Münster and it’s neighbouring town in the north Osnabrück were the places were the Westphalian Peace treaty was signed. Being formally a war of religion (with strange coalition like the Catholic French king and the Protestant Swedish King fighting together against the Catholic Habsburg Emperor), the Peace treaty mainly ended the period of religious wars between Protestants and Catholics on the continent, together with giving important countries like the (Protestant) Netherlands, who had fought a 70 years war against (Catholic) Spain, or Switzerland (as a religious diverse country with Catholic and Protestant areas) their independence. The remembrance of this Peace treaty – one of the most important occasions in German/European history – is still very alive in Münster (not only because it is a good way to bring tourists to the town…).

 

The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 15 May 1648 By Gerard ter Borch – http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=337672

After the unification of Germany in 1871 under Bismarck the Catholics in Münster found themselves as a suppressed minority in the Protestant dominated state of Prussia and there were strong political conflicts between them and the central state, because they felt their religious rights were supressed. In this time it must have been very hard as a non-Catholic to live in this area, but the scepticism of the citizens of Münster towards the Prussian state and the strong Catholic tradition orientated towards Rome resulted in a much weaker (still too strong…) support for the Nazis in the elections during the Weimar republic, than in predominant Protestant areas. The support of the citizens gave the bishop of Münster, Clemens August Graf von Galen, during the Nazi regime the possibility to speak up against some of the crimes against humanity committed by the government and the Germans.

Clemens August Kardinal Graf von Galen By Domkapitular Gustav Albers († 1957) – Bildersammlung des Bistumsarchivs Münster, des Erbnehmers der Urheberrechte, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1684057

After the war the student dormitory that I lived in for five years was founded. This place is special, because the students living there are always 50% from Germany and 50% from abroad (and 50% male and 50% female…) and so people from all cultural backgrounds are living together under one roof. Run by the protestant church it is not a requirement to be Protestant or Christian or of any other particular faith or of any faith at all to live there. This concept creates a very special atmosphere and is from my point of view a good way to build good relationships and peace between people of different backgrounds. During my time in Münster there were a couple of occasions when right-wing extremists wanted to demonstrate in the town. At this occasions there were always huge crowds of people gathering to demonstrate for the rights of minorities, freedom and a social and democratic society. Usually there were far more then then times as many people demonstrating against the right-wing extremists than with them.

Knowing this long tradition of peacebuilding and anti-extremist behaviour it was not a surprise when in last autumn after the general elections in Germany it was announced that Münster was the only place in the whole of Germany where the far-right party AFD (Alternative for Germany), which stands mainly for anti-islam and anti-refugee populism, gained less than 5% of the total votes.

Coming back to the attack with the van last Saturday it was good to see that most citizens where ready to help, so that the police could thank them for their support afterwards and the hospitals could get so many blood donations in a short time that they had to send away people.

In my opinion the civic tradition of peace building and challenging any kind of extremism in Münster is a good example for all towns and cities in our world and maybe this story of a usually not very important (it’s not Berlin or Cologne or any other of the German cities) and it’s impact on world history can be inspiring for people else where in the world.

“Hine mah tov…”

When you are studying protestant theology in Germany you have to learn Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew. Fortunately for me I had learned Latin and Ancient Greek in school, so I had to learn “only” Hebrew when I started my studies. It was definitely not very easy to learn the language of the Hebrew Bible but in the second attempt I managed to pass the exam. When we learned the language, we not only learned how to read the alphabet and from the right to the left and not only vocabulary and grammar, but we also learned some traditional Hebrew songs. One of those songs has the text

“Hine mah tov uMah-Nayim shevet achim gam yachad“ and it quotes the beginning of Psalm 133. The verse means “Behold how good and how pleasing if brothers (people) could sit together in unity“. The song was also sung at the National Holocaust Memorial Day event, which I reflected about last week.

But it came much more to my mind after I visited a Shabbat service at Glasgow Reform Synagogue last Saturday. To be guest in this service was a very special experience for me. Not only because it was a remembrance service for Holocaust Memorial Day and not only because of the difficult history between Christians and Jews – especially in Germany. The experience was special because I felt welcomed and in a way “at home” that is unusual for visits in places of worship of other faith tradition than my own. Of course it helped a lot, that I was able to follow the Hebrew texts of the liturgy but also the texts itself and the setting of the service felt very familiar. That was of course because Christians and Jews share not only a lot of history, but also a large part of their Holy Scriptures. Probably because of that I had the feeling, that I could truly participate in the prayers say “Amen” to what was said in the service. The differences to my own tradition, which I definitely experienced as well, did not feel larger than when visiting a service in a different Christian denomination. Of course that does not mean that Jews should be seen as just another Christian denomination – that would be wrong and dangerous, but it shows the brother- and sisterhood between Christians and Jews.

Up till now I had the feeling that people stressing the “Christian-Jewish heritage of the Western World” do this mainly to support Anti-Muslim tunes in society, and I think very often this is the case. But during this service, listening together the story how god saved the Israelites on their way through the dessert, singing psalms, praying and remembering the Holocaust I really had the feeling: “Yes we are brothers and sisters. And there is a deep understanding between us. And besides all the differences that should not be denied, we share much more than we ourselves might think.”

If I could have a wish, I would wish that this deep understanding I experienced in this Shabbat Service is possible between believers of all the different religions. I would wish that Jews can pray with Muslims and Muslims with Christians and Buddhists with Hindus and Hindus with Sikhs and Skihs with Baha’I and Baha’I with Jews and so on. That would really be “good and pleasing”!

“Hine mah tov uMah-Nayim shevet achim gam yachad“

Winter festivals

Winter time is a special time in many religions. Often special festivals are celebrated during the darkest months of the year. Often lighting of candles, special meals and families gathering together are a part of these festivals.

The winter festival season starts with Diwali in October/November, when the victory of light over darkness is celebrated. Diwali has a significant role in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism – even if the three religions remember/celebrate different events each.

By Khokarahman – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37528449

In November/December (in most of the years in December) Jews celebrate Hanukkah and remember the miracle of the rededication of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in the year 165/4 BC.

In December (Eastern Orthodox Churches which follow the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian because of the difference between them in January) Christians celebrate Christmas – the birth of Jesus Christ.

Often there are special regional festivals more or less connected with religious traditions in this time of the year. One example is the Swedish Lucia celebration at the 13^th December, when they remember a Sicilian saint from around 300 CE.

What can we learn from the case that those winter festivals are so widely spread among the religions (there might be some festivals from other faith traditions that I missed…)? Well probably not that the religions are “in the end all the same” and even if there are parallels in the stories that are told at those festivals that “they celebrate the same thing, but in different ways”. There are good cases why Christians are, apart from maybe festival exchanges, not celebrating Diwali or Hanukkah as a part of their own tradition and why Jews don’t celebrate Christmas. Especially the comparison of Hanukkah and Christmas shows that they are in their core completely independent festivals, even if some traditions around them are very similar. The Jewish temple, which’s rededication is celebrated at Hanukkah has no special significance for Christians (although the first Christians were Jews and as such of course praying at the temple and for Christians it is completely clear that “their” god is the one, who was worshipped in the temple in Jerusalem). For Jews usually Jesus, who’s birth is celebrated on Christmas has no special (positive) significance (although he was a Jewish Rabi/teacher during his life and all of his early followers where Jews).

What the different faith traditions are sharing, and which is an important part of the different winter festivals is the hope. It’s a hope for a “better” world, where “good” wins over “evil”, where there is light and no darkness. This hope connects us today in a world where nationalism gets stronger, where people build walls and fences between each other, where we face a lot of political crisis and maybe a nuclear war, where people are starving to death in Yemen and people get persecuted for their faith in a lot of places in the world. This hope connects us also with all the people before us. With those 100 years ago during the first World War, with those 500 years ago in the times of the Christian Reformation, the beginning Colonialism and the life of the Sikh Gurus, with those 2000 years ago, when Jesus was born in a small village in a remote corner of the world and with the Jews who celebrated the rededication of their temple about 160 years earlier and with all the people living before us. We all are united by this hope and it might encourage us to work together to make this hope of a better world one day become true.

Peace One Day

This week is Peace One Day and because of that I went to Kilmarnock on Monday and gave a speech about Peace in the family, the community and the world and what interfaith dialogue can do for it. The following text is the manuscript of this speech (but without the general introduction about myself and the work of Interfaith Scotland):

Peace = Shalom

What do you think when you hear the word peace? Do you think about gravestone where you can read Rest in Peace on? Do you think about old man in suits or uniforms shaking hands in front of TV cameras? Do you think about rainbow flags and peace doves?

When I think about peace I think about a town where I lived for about five years. In Münster and its neighbour town Osnabrück the maybe largest peace treaty ever has been signed in 1648. Literally every European state had been involved in the big thirty years war. Started as a religious war between protestants and Catholics it became a big war between the different European powers. Soldiers from Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain, Austria and all the small German states of this time fought against each other. When the peace contract was signed messenger were sent to every country and told the world that war was over. In Münster they had huge celebrations with a lot of dancing and music and all fountains were filled with wine. For the people living in this time after more than one generation of war it must have felt like being in heaven.

But the peace wasn’t for long. Since 1648 Germany, Europe and the world have suffered from a lot of wars. Even when we have the maybe longest peace period in western and central Europe just now, there are so many places in the world where people suffer from war, violence and injustice.

So, what can we say about peace today? Peace in the Family, in the Community and in the world? When I learned Hebrew in university I learned about the Hebrew word for peace – shalom. It’s cognate to the Arabic word salaam and both can be used when you meet someone to say hello or good bye. My teacher at university told me, that shalom does not mean “only” peace in the meaning there is no war, it means also full harmony between god, mankind and the whole creation. It can mean every aspect of wellbeing for individuals or nations or the whole world. So, shalom has a much wider meaning than the English word “peace” or the German word “Frieden”. It is much more general and has a universal perspective of harmony in the world. From my point of view when we talk about peace – we should talk about shalom.

There are so many families here in Scotland and in the world who don’t have shalom. Shalom in a family would mean that parents and children treat each other with respect and love. Shalom in a family would mean that partners are treating each other with respect and love. Shalom in a family would mean that children treat each other with respect and love. Shalom in a family would mean that no one has to suffer from violence. Shalom in a family would mean that no one has to be afraid to tell his or her opinion.

There are so many communities where the people don’t have shalom. Shalom in a community would mean that no one has to stay lonely, because people care for each other. Shalom in a community would mean that no one has to be ashamed about what he or she feels or thinks. Shalom in a community would mean that everyone has enough to live: a place to stay, a meaningful task to do and no sorrows about how to get his or her food for the next day. Shalom in a community would mean, that everyone can live the life he or she wants and everyone respects it.

There is our world and most of the people living here don’t have shalom. Shalom for the world would mean, that there are no wars anymore. Not between states, not between nations, not between religions and faiths. Shalom for the world would mean, that no one has to leave his home because of economic reasons or because his or her life is threatened by war, violence or hunger. Shalom for the world would mean, that mankind stops destroying the environment. Shalom for the world would mean, that everyone can get a good education. Shalom for the world would mean, that no children have to work instead of going to school. Shalom for the world would mean, that all the nations and religions live in peace together instead of claiming supremacy about each other.

Living in shalom in our families, communities and in the world would be a great thing. It would legitimate a big party – much bigger then the parties after the end of the thirty year war in Münster in 1648. But to reach this goal – shalom for the world – is still a long way to go. But it’s a process where everyone is responsible. What did I do for bringing shalom to the world today? What did you do? One possible guideline is the so called Golden Rule which you find in every one of the big religions and faith traditions. “One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.” This sentence can be a guideline for our way to shalom. In a world where everyone would treat others as he or she wants to be treated by others no one suffers from violence. In such a world, everyone can tell his or her opinion. In such a world, the different nations and religions work together making the world a better place instead of fighting each other. In such a world, there would be peace in every family, community and the whole world. In such a world there would be shalom. From my point of view this is a goal we should try to reach, even if it seems impossible.

Interfaith dialogue and Peace: 3 examples

So, what could interfaith dialogue do to spread shalom all over the world. I’m having a look at three examples.

From the time of the reformation until the middle of the last century Germany was religiously divided into parts with mainly protestant and parts with mainly catholic population. If someone protestant wanted to marry someone catholic or the other way around they had to decide which religion they wanted to have. They could not be “a mixed couple”. The people from the other denomination weren’t accepted as “true Christians”. And even inside Protestantism it was the same way between Calvinists and Lutheran Christians. That wasn’t a big problem as long as people normally stayed at the same place their entire live. Probably a protestant Lutheran farmer in this time never met a Catholic or Calvinist person. After the industrialisation people got more mobile and it was easier to move to another part of the country and the population got mixed. This blending of the religious denominations increased a lot when after the second world war millions of Germans had to live their home in the former parts of eastern Germany which today belong to Poland or the Czech Republic. When I was training to become a minister, I met a lot of people who had been refugees from these areas when they were children. They told me how difficult it was for example to come to a mainly catholic area as a protestant. The other children were not allowed to play with them and in school they got bad marks only because they belonged to another faith. During the last 60 years the religious differences between Catholics and Protestants and between the different protestant groups became much less important. Today it’s very usual that there are “mixed” families and in many towns and villages Protestants and Catholics work together very well. Even if the relationship is not without tensions so did the dialogue in the last 60 years bring people together who couldn’t have lived together the 500 years before. Maybe this dialogue between different Christian denominations has not brought complete shalom – but it brought shalom to many families and communities and it helped to bring peace to one of the most violent areas in Europe. I think there are examples of this kind of dialogue and reconciliation in Scotland and other parts of the world as well. I hope that the different religions continue the way they started and bring peace to more and more families, communities and countries.

The next example is from Germany as well. During my time at university I lived in a student dormitory for five years. This dormitory was provided by the protestant church and the chaplain was the director of the dormitory but it had an international, ecumenical and interfaith profile. Half of the inhabitants is always from abroad and half is from Germany. Half is male half is female. All were living together in fife corridors. During one semester, I shared my corridor with people from Nepal, Morocco, Syria Ukraine, China, Poland and Germany. Amongst the people from Syria there were Kurdish people as well as Arab Muslims and Arab Christians and the war in Syria had already started. From time to time we met for a big meal together and everybody brought something from his home and we shared it together. In this moment, we nearly forgot about all the differences and tensions. Maybe my flatmates from Syria could forget the sorrow for their families at least for a short moment. It was not important if someone was a Christian, a Muslim, a Zoroastrian, a Hindu or a non-believer it was not important if someone was male or female, it was not important if someone was German, Polish, Ukrainian, Moroccan, Chinese, Arab or Kurdish. We were just together as friends sharing food, drinks, time and joy. For me it was possible to feel the shalom, the complete peace in this moments. If we want to learn something from this about how to build peace it might be, that it’s important to bring people together, to share food with each other and to respect each other. I think many religious groups and charity organisations are doing this and I hope they continue and increase their work.

The third and last example is from the work of Interfaith Scotland. You all know about the difficult political situation in Ukraine. But maybe you are not aware about the strong religious tensions which go ahead with this conflict – I wasn’t aware of it anyway. The two national churches the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church have big tensions between them since the end of the Soviet Union. In both cases religious differences are connected and mixed with nationalistic thinking and the conflict and war of the last years has made it impossible that the leaders of the churches speak to each other. Anyway this summer the Director of Interfaith Scotland went with some other dialogue experts to Ukraine and they had one week to learn how to speak to each other. They learned some methods of dialogue, for example sharing stories which were very emotional and to talk about important texts they have in common as the beatitudes from the gospel of Matthew. Of course, this one week won’t bring peace to Ukraine directly but it’s the start to a process and it’s giving some hope that it’s possible to build peace even in such countries as in Ukraine.

Many conflicts in the world are connected with religious differences and often it seems impossible to solve them. Ukraine is one example, Syria and Iraq are others. But if I have a look on the process of peacebuilding and reconciliation in Germany and Western Europe since the second world war and if I remember my experiences in the student dormitory I have the hope to get peace there one day in the future.

What do you think when you hear the word “peace”? I think about shalom and all the steps that are necessary to take for us as human beings and for all the different religious groups and faiths.

Thank you!

The long way to peace between faiths

This week I visited the local interfaith group in fife. They told me about their activities and we discussed how Interfaith Scotland could support their work. One thing they told me was that they built a peace garden in the large park in Kirkcaldy. The project needed a lot of resources and it took about 4 years until it was finished in 2012. Even if I couldn’t visit the garden it is good to know, that there is a place where all the different religions are calling for peace in the world. Hearing about the peace garden made me think about all the conflicts which have existed and still exists between the different faiths. And I started thinking about how religious groups, which have been enemies for a long time, can become peaceful partners.

I know at least one example where that happened after a nearly 2.000 years history of persecution. I’m from Germany and a protestant Christian, so the example comes from the history of my own faith. In the so called New Testament (a part of the Christian Bible) there are scripture which have very strong anti-Jewish tendencies. From a historical point of view that’s completely understandable because the first Christians split up from the Jewish community and there were a lot of conflicts between both religious groups during the first centuries of their common history. After Christianity became the main religion of the Roman Empire Christians had the possibility to supress Jews and they did it because of the anti-Jewish tendency in the New Testament. Not all Christians did this but over the centuries it became a common sense in Christian theology that Jews were the “enemies of God”. During the middle-ages and the modern times it continuously came to pogroms against Jews in the Christian areas of the world. Even great Christian theologians such as Martin Luther the “founder” of Protestantism had strong anti-Jewish opinions. During the 19^th century the theological antijudaism became an important radix for antisemitism.  Even if the first Christians and the Christian theologians during 2000 years of Christian history are not directly responsible for the gas chambers in Auschwitz, so have they prepared the way for it. Even if there were Christians in Germany during to Nazi regime who fought against Hitler and the Nazis most of the Christians did not and during the Weimar Republic the most Nazi supporting areas in Germany were those which were traditional protestant. After the war, the protestant church in Germany (and in other western countries as well) started slowly to change their theological thinking about Jews. They remembered all the things these two faiths have in common and the shared believes.

Today in the protestant church in Germany it is a real no-go to say that Jews must become Christians to be in a relationship to god. The Jewish faith is accepted as an equal way to god – not only because of political and historical reasons but even for theological ones too. The most important step on the way from persecuting and killing Jews to accepting them as equal partners was that the Christian churches admitted their guilt for the persecution of Jews. My (regional) church where I am going to work as minister from next summer changed its basic article in 1991. This text is the basis for everything what happens in the church. Every minister in the church is getting ordained on this article. Since 1991 the article ends with two new sentences:

“For blindness and guilt called for repentance, she (the church) again testifies to the permanent election of the Jews and God’s covenant with them. The confession of Jesus Christ includes this testimony.” ( „Aus Blindheit und Schuld zur Umkehr gerufen bezeugt sie (die EKHN) neu die bleibende Erwählung der Juden und Gottes Bund mit ihnen. Das Bekenntnis zu Jesus Christus schließt dieses Zeugnis ein.“)

I think it is not usual that a religious group has the permanent election of another religious group as one of their main articles of believe but it gives me hope. It gives me the hope that the different religious faiths can accept another as equal partners without a repeating of the history between Christians and Jews. It would mean that Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Bahais and all the other faiths would confess everything they done to each other. It would mean that they admit their guilt and that they forgive each other. Maybe it’s idealistic but I hope it will happen. I think this is a task for every believer and everyone can do something for this. The “normal people” can try to build good relationships to their neighbours from different faiths. Have a chat when they meet, ask how they feel, let their children play together… The theologians must rethink their theological positions towards each other. The example of the Christian-Jewish relationship shows me that this is possible, even if it is a long and difficult journey.

What do you think? Is peace and reconciliation between the religions possible?

 

If I write about the “protestant church in Germany” I mean the EKD. If I write about “my (regional) church I mean the EKHN.