German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s warning this week that Jewish life in his country “is no longer safe” reflects concerns voiced by some Jews in Berlin.
In Germany, right-wing ‘Christfluencers’ hope to follow the US religious right
Tobias Riemenschneider’s congregation meets on the top floor of a repurposed train station outside Frankfurt am Main. A narrow spiral staircase leads to a converted dance studio, encircled by mirrors and chandeliers, decorated in pink and sparkles.
Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West
One of the things I love about my job is that I get to read many manuscripts before they enter the public arena. This is usually a request for an endorsement. Last year, I had the opportunity to consider Harvard…
Vatican says “No” to German bishops’ request for lay homilies
The Vatican has rejected a request from the German bishops for permission to allow lay persons to deliver the homily in “exceptional circumstances” instead of a cleric.
German court allows pro-Palestinian encampment in Hamburg park where Jews were deported by the Nazis
Activists in Hamburg are commemorating the displacement of Palestinians this week in a park where Jews were deported during World War II, following a legal fight that ended in their favor.
Russell Moore sounds alarm about evangelicals accepting Nazis
Add Russell Moore to the list of evangelicals warning about how too many conservatives are warming up to antisemitism and Nazi nostalgia. The Christianity Today columnist and former head of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission wrote a…
‘Nazi-like’ ad campaign uses religious imagery
Religious imagery plays a role in a controversial new ad campaign created by the Trump administration’s Department of Labor. This follows similar trends seen already at the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Kristi Noem. Both agencies are using Norman…
The Trump administration is using the arts to rewrite history
I’ve written elsewhere about the role the arts have played in both creating and confronting shared identity and ethics across time. Art is a powerful medium. It has the potential to both reflect and to shape collective memory — which…
We need a new (and better) Stuttgart Declaration
I was a new staff member when I heard some helpful advice through the church grapevine: My job security depended on the orientation of the blinds in my office windows. Church members wanted all the blinds in the building to…
500 years ago, German peasants revolted – but their faith that the Protestant Reformation stood for freedom was dashed by Martin Luther and the nobility
Five hundred years ago, in the winter of 1524-1525, bands of peasants roamed the German countryside seeking recruits. It was the start of the German Peasants’ War, the largest uprising in Europe before the French Revolution. The peasants’ goal was…
It’s time to become American Nazi hunters
There are Nazis in our midst. Not just Nazi flag-carrying, swastika-wearing, swashbuckling Nazi-saluting members of American neo-Nazi groups, but ordinary Americans who will swear they are not Nazis. It’s now obvious that MAGA has Nazi leanings. Psychologist Keith Payne, in…
The Baptist Bonhoeffer
Political party leaders around the globe, including Donald Trump, are openly flirting with fascism to consolidate power by exploiting economic and cultural conflicts. When considering how to respond to these troubling developments, many Christians rightly turn to the example of…