The approval of the arms deliveries to the Ukraine by the EKD Council President Annette Kurschus was not without criticism. Her predecessor Margot Käßmann contradicted her. The EV Church does not stand united behind the statement “Weapons bring peace and protect life”.
Inhalt / Content
Kurschus does not go unchallenged
For Kurschus, guns are peacemakers and lifesavers
The idiosyncratic statement by the chairwoman of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Annette Kurschus, that weapons bring peace and protect life was not well received everywhere. Within the evangelical church one can definitely hear contradictions. However, Kurschus did not stop at his completely own position on the deliveries of Leopard 2 tanks to the Ukraine, but justified this by adding Jesus, who, according to the EKD chairmen, might have agreed to the arms deliveries.
Margot Käßmann holds against it
Former EKD chair Margot Käßmann, on the other hand, has other tones. She sees major reservations from evangelical Christians regarding arms deliveries to Ukraine. After every service, people ask her about it. They are afraid that Germany could become a party to the war, so Käßmann according to evangelisch.de These people also wondered why the Church would allow such arms sales. Käßmann sees a large group in society who reject arms deliveries.
Käßmann criticized the statement that weapons could save lives. According to their attitude, weapons are primarily made to kill. According to Käßmann, pacifists have always been in the minority, and since Luther, Protestantism has also tended towards a certain degree of obedience to authority.
Jesus, on the other hand, had a clear and “absolutely radical” attitude, according to the former EKD council chair. “Put the sword in its place! Love your enemies”, as found in the New Testament.
Käßmann may have referred to the following two Bible verses:
Matthew 26:52: “Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”
Luke 6:27: “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,”
Käßmann also drifted off
With this statement, Margot Käßmann exceptionally comes a little closer to the gospel. But even she cannot boast of unreservedly representing the gospel. Otherwise she would never have gotten into the position of EKD Council President, because the Bible and ecumenism are opposed to each other. Just the conversation in the “NDRkulturradar – Hard to believe – The Bible | Margot human” with the content of her attitude towards the Bible and the statements contained therein testify to her immense distance from the word of God.
In general, however, the following warning also applies to the subject of arms deliveries:
Isaiah 5:20: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Bible verses from King James Version
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