The accusation that Klöckner wants a muzzle for the church is nonsense!

Does the new Bundestag president Julia Klöckner want to give the big churches a muzzle? This impression had to get who was on social networks at the weekend. The occasion was an interview that the CDU politician had given the “Bild am Sonntag”. In it, Klöckner asked the churches for political reluctance.

There was criticism for that. The “Spiegel” spoke of a “cultural struggle” that Klöckner leads, the “Handelsblatt” of a “ban on speech”, which she expresses for the churches. And that as the formally second highest representative of the state.

Unlike these reactions suggest, the original interview reads much less excited. It is about the digitization of the Bundestag, about dealing with the AfD, dogs in parliament. In the end, the interviewers come to speak to Klöckner’s belief, which is due to Easter (the 52-year-old studied theology and is practicing Catholic). When asked why more and more people leave the church, Klöckner first names the declining church loyalty due to increasing prosperity and the increase in replacement religions. Then she takes out criticism of the churches. In the Corona period, the church would have been able to give even more stability: “At one point or another, she really missed a chance.”

In addition, the church is “sometimes too arbitrary” or give up on daily topics “like an NGO” (non -governmental organization). If you “no longer have the fundamental questions of life and death in view, then it will unfortunately be interchangeable,” complains Klöckner and explains: “I mean: clearly the church can also comment on km / h.

You don’t have to share this position. One could argue that a speed limit is not only environmentally friendly, but also demonstrably reduces the number of traffic fatalities and thus fully corresponds to a core order of the Bible: the preservation of creation.

The demand for a “ban” is not in Klöckner’s statements. Rather, she claims the right to define what awaits her from her church as a Christian.

How political is allowed, should and must be a church? The answer is complex. Basically, the church must be political, has to interfere. Without this attitude, for example, there would have been no resistance to National Socialism.

However, church must not be suspected of being part -political. Even if you have to give answers to the questions of time, your yardstick must never be the zeitgeist. But exclusively the Bible.

For example, this is very clear about dealing with refugees – whether it fits the conservatives or not. And just as clear about dealing with unborn life – whether it fits the left or not.

Not every position has to fit a Christian personally. And yes, you can argue about a lot or even reject it. Pope Francis, who had just died, stuck to the ban on contraception, although this is rightly a thing of the past in everyday life for many Catholics. Conversely, many clergymen who committed child abuse were covered by the church authorities. Although the Bible demands clarity and atonement at sin.

A certain bitterness is added to the conservatives because they have so far defined themselves as a political carrier of faith (not for nothing they carry the “C” in the party name) and felt finally revealed by the two great churches when their authorized representative expressed very sharply about the asylum policy vote with the AfD, which was initiated by Friedrich Merz.

But they too can learn that the churches are not executors of their political positions. The churches must always be aware that their members are not only located in a political spectrum and that it is their duty to deal with all positions.

If the churches come to an attitude after a thorough examination that can be derived from the Bible and corresponds to the Christian spirit of love and empathy, it must not be put off.

If you don’t take this, but think that you have to quit, you shouldn’t stop. Faith is not a question of mass. But from class.