[ad_1]
Are hygiene concepts sufficient or should Christmas services in general be canceled? The Federal Association of Physicians has a clear opinion on this. EKD President Bedford-Strohm wants communities to decide for themselves.
Christmas is just around the corner and the debate over Crown-era worship is accelerating again: Churches rely on rules of hygiene and distance rather than outright bans. The president of the Federal Association of Physicians in the Public Health Service, Ute Teichert, calls on politicians to ban attendance at Christmas due to the continuing high number of corona infections.
“This year, face-to-face services should be banned across the country,” he told the Funke media group newspapers. Because we know how easily the virus can be transmitted, especially in religious services, we should not take any additional risk at Christmas due to the high number of infections, “the doctor warned.
Bedford-Strohm: decide on the spot
This is not an option for the Protestant regional bishop of Bavaria, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. In an interview with the BR He said, “No, there is no blanket rejection recommendation. That must be decided now on the site.”
Bedford-Strohm realizes that this is a difficult decision for communities. “There is only one narrow corridor,” he emphasizes. There are people for whom a live-broadcast religious service is an ideal alternative. But there are also lonely people who need a service on site, but “only under the strictest hygiene requirements.” “It must be said that this Christmas season would not exist, there would be no such festival, none of this would exist if it were not for the Christmas message,” explains the Protestant regional bishop. “There are good reasons why we have the opportunity to hear the Christmas message in churches this Christmas.”
Catholic Bishop Ulrich Neymeyr defended the basic right to freedom of worship even in times of pandemic. “Closing churches is out of the question,” said the Bishop of Erfurt in MDR. Many people want to go to church or religious service. “We need those places of retreat.”
CDU Health Politician: Would Support Ban
The health policy spokesperson for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Karin Maag, on the other hand, would support a ban on church services at Christmas. Maag told SWR: “In this case, I would ban it because we are in a very difficult situation.” However, it does not assume that such a ban will come. A variant of the service with few believers, long distance, She could understand the assigned seats and not sing, Maag said.
Nonetheless, he calls on people to voluntarily refrain from attending church services at Christmas: “From a medical, virological and political point of view, it would be nice if we could do without this this year and see the church service in television”.
North Rhine-Westphalia Deputy Prime Minister Joachim Stamp (FDP) also called on churches to cancel outreach services during Christmas. NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet lets churches in the state conduct Christmas services despite the growing number of infections. “The state government will not ban any religious services,” says the CDU politician. However, strict rules must be adhered to. “There is no ‘Oh, happy'”, emphasizes the politician, referring to the ban on singing.
In many places, Protestant and Catholic parishes have canceled Christmas attendance, but there is no state ban on worship in any of the 16 federal states. Due to nightly regional curfews, Christmas Masses were partly brought forward on Christmas Eve.
According to the agreements between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Minister of the federal states, the faithful must keep their distance, wear a mask and register. Congregational singing is also prohibited.
