German Church Removes Symbols of Christianity To Make Migrants ‘Comfortable’
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/11/german-church-removes-symbols-of-christianity-to-make-migrants-comfortable/
A
church in Germany which is being used to house migrants has removed
pews and the altar to make room for beds but also stripped away all
Christian symbols to make the migrants more comfortable.Breitbart London reports:
Parish Church Strips Out All Crosses, Pulpit, Pews for the Comfort of MigrantsWould these accommodations be made if the roles were reversed?
A German evangelical priest has offered his parish church up to become migrant housing, but will be stripping out most of the fittings to ensure their comfort – including all symbols of Christianity.
Father Joachim Deterding, parish priest of the evangelical Königshardt-Schmachtendorf church in Oberhausen, western Germany offered his church to the city authorities this week, a suggestion they accepted “gladly”, reports der Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
It is the first time in Germany a still consecrated, serving church has been turned over to migrant accommodation, but it is entirely in keeping with the philosophy of the priest and his mission. The church website advertises services given in English for the majority of refugees who speak no or little German, proudly proclaims “Refugees welcome… we are all citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”.If this is true, the massive changed being wrought to the church may seem odd. As well as clearing out pews, the altar, and the pulpit to make space for beds and kitchens, the church is also clearing out Christian symbols. This move has been calculated to make the migrants feel more welcome in their new home, reports The Express.
German Protestant church’s scandalous idea rocks evangelical community
(RNS) One of Germany’s largest Protestant regional churches has come under fire from other Christians for speaking out against efforts to convert Muslims just as tens of thousands of refugees from the Islamic world are streaming into the country.
¶In
a new position paper, the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland says the
passage in the Gospel of Matthew known as the Great Commission — “Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” — does not mean
Christians must try to convert others to their faith.
¶“A
strategic mission to Islam or meeting Muslims to convert them threatens
social peace and contradicts the spirit and mandate of Jesus Christ and
is therefore to be firmly rejected,” the paper entitled “Pilgrim
Fellowship and Witness in Dialogue with Muslims” argues.
¶This
initiative by the mainline Rhineland church, published in early
October, prompted a sharp response from Germany’s small evangelical
movement.
¶“We
declare firmly that the fundamental missionary task of Christians,
namely to preach the Gospel of Jesus to others and invite them to follow
it, cannot be given up,” said Hartmut Steeb, secretary general of the
German Evangelical Alliance.The 32-page document could hardly have come at a more sensitive time.
¶Germany
expects to receive 800,000 to 1 million asylum seekers this year,
mostly Muslims from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The country’s Islamic
minority could soon overtake France’s 5 million to become Europe’s
largest. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s warm welcome to all refugees fleeing
war and oppression has led to major political controversies at home and
abroad.
¶Some
fellow Christian Democrats accuse Merkel of recklessly flinging open
Germany’s borders. Far-right groups protesting against a purported
“Islamization” of German society are gathering support.
¶At
the same time, hundreds of Muslims are reported to have converted this
year. The fact that most are Iranians and Afghans, who could face the
death penalty for apostasy back home if they were deported, has prompted
some German Muslims to ask whether they are only converting to better
their chances for political asylum.
¶The
dividing line over proselytizing roughly runs between Germany’s
mainline Protestant churches — mostly the Lutheran, Reformed and United
groups — that make up about 30 percent of the population and its
evangelical churches that account for only about 1 percent.
¶Both
call themselves evangelical (evangelisch), with the latter sometimes
using the term “evangelikanisch” to show the difference.
¶While
most Christian churches have mobilized to help the newcomers, Roman
Catholics and mainline Protestants have not spoken of the refugee crisis
as an opportunity for evangelization.
¶By
contrast, the Consortium of Evangelical Missions — an association
linking mission activities of evangelical groups around the country —
told its members in late September: “We have today the unique
opportunity to introduce Jesus to countless people right here who have
not yet heard the Good News.”
¶The
consortium statement stressed that most refugees were Muslims who “have
escaped Islamist terror (and) are deeply shocked at the inhuman
barbarity committed in the name of their religion.” Many had never met a
Christian and would ask why Europeans were so friendly to them “while
their cousins in Arabia turn them away so heartlessly.”
¶The
statement even pointed out that many Syrians were well-educated,
hardworking and had a relatively low birth rate. “Fears about a
‘biological takeover’ do not correspond to the facts,” it stated.
¶Barbara
Rudolph, head of mission work for the mainline Evangelical Church in
the Rhineland, said the position paper had been misunderstood. “This is
not about ending our missionary work,” she said.
In
2011, she noted, the World Council of Churches, the Vatican and the
World Evangelical Alliance issued a joint code of conduct entitled
“Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World” that said Christians
should avoid “inappropriate methods of exercising mission by resorting
to deception and coercive means.”
¶Rudolph
said the document by her regional church was part of a broader
discussion within the Evangelical Church in Germany, the country’s main
national association of Protestant churches, based on the 2011 code of
conduct.
¶“We
want to live in a way that makes others curious about our faith,” she
said. “Whoever wants to become a Christian can be baptized.”
¶This
new approach to the Great Commission has come under criticism even from
within Rudolph’s church. Comments about it on her blog are mostly
negative. “This new understanding of mission … excludes the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. It mixes up law and Gospel by arguing that a certain
ethical behavior amounts to missionary work,” wrote one pastor.
¶Another
mission official for the Rhineland church said the document seemed to
give up the very idea of spreading the Christian faith. “I base my life
on the fundamental truth of the Gospel,” Pastor Christoph Noetzel told
the independent Christian news service Idea. “I’d like to do it in the
future as well, without it being relativized by my church.”
¶An
official for mission work with the Evangelical Church in Germany,
Hans-Hermann Pompe, told Idea: “If someone concludes from this document
that it’s all the same to Protestants whether they follow Jesus or
Mohammad, its authors should not be surprised.”
