Prussia-Sigmaringen
19-04-2008, 23:52
Ever since 1539, Prussia-Sigmaringen has maintained a state Protestant church, originally Lutheran, and since 1762, a union between Lutheran and Reformed Churches. Approximately four-fifths of the population belong to the state church, with most of the rest being Roman Catholics and about one percent being Jewish. These minority faiths have not been, on any level, officially discriminated against since the early nineteenth century.
However, the Prussia-Sigmaringen Civil Rights council has long objected to the policy of maintaining the Evangelical Reformed Church as an official state religion, and it appears that the idea of official state secularism is gaining currency, as the general religiousity of the population declines.
New polls suggest that a solid majority of about sixty percent support the existence of the state church. Senior clergymen of the ERC are worried that the removal of state protection from their church will lead to a rapid decline in church attendance, in a nation which is rapidly taking on a more secularized character.
The chancellor, Albert Koenig, who happens to be Roman Catholic, supports the move to secularization, but a constitutional chance requires the approval of the monarch, Friedrich August IV, who is a devout member of the ERC and worried about deviating too far from age-old national tradition.
Confidentially, both parties have sought opinions from other nations and perhaps, also to get a sense of how the issue proceeded in other nations which have undergone official secularization or faced the issue.
However, the Prussia-Sigmaringen Civil Rights council has long objected to the policy of maintaining the Evangelical Reformed Church as an official state religion, and it appears that the idea of official state secularism is gaining currency, as the general religiousity of the population declines.
New polls suggest that a solid majority of about sixty percent support the existence of the state church. Senior clergymen of the ERC are worried that the removal of state protection from their church will lead to a rapid decline in church attendance, in a nation which is rapidly taking on a more secularized character.
The chancellor, Albert Koenig, who happens to be Roman Catholic, supports the move to secularization, but a constitutional chance requires the approval of the monarch, Friedrich August IV, who is a devout member of the ERC and worried about deviating too far from age-old national tradition.
Confidentially, both parties have sought opinions from other nations and perhaps, also to get a sense of how the issue proceeded in other nations which have undergone official secularization or faced the issue.