The German Pastors' Struggle
The ultimate crisis in the German Evangelical Church in Germany has been impending so often that there is some excuse for doubting whether even now it has finally arrived. But the breach between Herr Kerr', the Minister for Church Affairs, and the Confessional leaders has- in the past week become as wide as it well can be. Orders issued by Herr Kern on Monday prohibit the Confessional association in any area where a com- mittee has been formed under Herr Kern'sl Church Law from appointing pastors, ordaining theological candi- dates, levying and administering Church taxes and discharging various other functions. • It is virtually the dissolution of the Confessional ' Synod. The more resolute of the Confessional pastors will in no circum- stances assent to. such terms; and an immediate challenge was in fact presented to Herr Kerrl by the ordination of seven pastors. on Tuesday in a Dahlem church, the stalwart Dr. • Niern011er being present, and Dr. Otto Dibelius preaching a sermon • on the seven thousand men who refused to bow the knee to Baal. The conflict between obedience to God and obedience to Caesar is back to where it was in the earliest days of the now obliterated Reich Bishop Muller, and defiance of the State authorities by the pastors--the Prussian Confes- sional Synod met " illegally," on Wednesday—can hardly fail to lead to drastic action by the State.
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