The German Catholic Crackup
Pope Francis wanted the Catholic Church to be more welcoming to gays and transgender persons. He allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.
This was music to the ears of the German Catholic hierarchy, so much so that they began inventing their own rules governing homosexuality.
Francis thought they went too far, but this is what happens when reformers get carried away — they encourage a revolutionary response.
Now the German Catholic Church is in a state of flux.
But compared to their Protestant friends, they appear sane.
Lena Müller sports pink hair. She's not in the circus.
No, she is a Berlin Protestant minister. She recently presided over a "poly wedding."
To be specific, she "married" four men. In keeping with the spirit of diversity, two of the guys were Latvians, one was Thai, and the other Spaniard.
The minister belongs to the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia; it goes by EKBO. She promotes a "queer-inclusive" approach, and said the four men now constitute "one family." Would God approve?
Of course.
"We saw that there was a lot of love between them. What could God possibly have against there being four of them instead of two?"
Did the EKBO approve this "marriage"?
Formally it did not but that is because church weddings cannot be sanctioned unless they are a legally registered marriage, and polygamy is still prohibited by German law.
The EKBO had to bow to the civil law but that doesn’t mean they didn't like what the renegade minister did. Instead of rebuking her, they stood by her, saying they were "appalled" — not by what she did, but by her critics.
They even threatened legal action against her most vocal adversaries.
These EKBO Protestants have been actively subverting Christianity for years.
That's their goal — to destroy Christianity from the inside. To wit: they seek the "decolonization of hierarchical and Eurocentric prayer language."
This is short for hating Christianity and Western civilization.
Their agenda is purely political, having nothing to do with religion.
They are committed to "dismantling hierarchical, essentialized, naturalized intersectional categories such as 'gender,' 'sexuality,' 'race,' 'class,' 'physical ability,' 'religion,' etc."
In other words, they are in rebellion against human nature and the very stuff that constitutes society.
It boasts on its website that its texts "do not use binary language."
Translated, this means that the fictional world they live in does not recognize men and women. That's too restrictive. Indeed, they take umbrage at the very word "women," arguing that doing so validates the notion that such a biological group exists.
A few years ago, an EKBO bishop, Christian Stäblein, presented a declaration on "Guilt Towards Queer People."
He asked for forgiveness, but not for himself — that would undercut the hierarchical mantle upon which he can lecture the unwashed — but for the "interrogations" and "dismissals" which queers have allegedly endured at the hands of normal men and women.
This is the culture that the pink-haired minister was nurtured in, so it was hardly a big leap for her to "marry" four men. It wasn't all that risky, and the fact that the EKBO elites rushed to her defense proves it wasn't.
What's next?
If all it takes is "love" to justify a marriage, then Sam and Sally, brother and sister, can tie the knot. Indeed, they can add their cousins to the mix, Saul and Susan, and have a happy foursome.
This is what happens when our imagination governs our thought processes, substituting make-believe for reality. It's also what happens when those who want to subvert Christianity are seen as heroes.
Dr. Bill Donohue is president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. A former Heritage Foundation Bradley resident scholar, he's authored 11 books on civil liberties, social issues, and religion. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from New York University. His new book, "Cultural Meltdown: The Secular Roots of Our Moral Crisis," was released in June, 2024. Read Bill Donohue's Reports — More Here.