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“A Christian can drown” – pastor leaves church
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The former research vessel “Sea-Watch 4” is funded by the “United4Rescue” alliance, which was started by the EKD and to which more than 550 organizations and companies belong.
Source: AFP
In October, Protestant pastor Matthias Dreher criticized the rescue of his church at sea. For this he was put in place by the church council. Now he leaves his parish in Nürnberg-Ziegelstein.
northAfter a violent protest against a letter to the editor about the sea rescue, the Protestant pastor from Nuremberg-Ziegelstein, Matthias Dreher, leaves the community. The Nuremberg regional bishops’ office announced this decision Tuesday after an online church council meeting.
Dreher criticized the rescue boats for refugees in October under the headline “A Christian can let himself drown” on the “correspondence sheet” of the Bavarian shepherds’ association.
Among other things, Dreher wrote at the time: “People who run the risk of drowning in the sea are talked about in a patronizing way, as if they were ping-pong balls in the white seas of the Mediterranean. The fact that these people deliberately endanger their lives in unsafe vessels on fuel for a few nautical miles is as reluctant to admit, as the fact that marine rescuers do not cooperate with tugboats, that would be slander, but that one knows each other and the respective marine movements. coordinated, as has been documented and researched many times. “
The text goes on to say regarding migrants from Africa: “These people are pursuing their desire for a better life. However, this does not give them the right to have this wish fulfilled, nor does it ethically obligate us to provide adequate assistance for compliance, especially not beyond German sovereignty in water and on land. Of course, our Christian task is to exert a warning and decimation effect on the drowned in the Mediterranean, but in a church-appropriate “sine vi sed verb.” Who finally addresses not only African rulers but also migrants from an appropriately audible point: ‘You Africans ready to migrate! If you want to go to Europe, try a legal asylum procedure instead of putting your life and your family at risk. “
The deans grew apart
Following the publication of the text, the church council joined in a statement by the Protestant deans of Nuremberg, who distanced themselves from Dreher’s statements. “Under no circumstances should you let people drown. From a Christian point of view, this requirement is unconditional, ”wrote the deans.
Nuremberg regional bishop Stefan Ark Nitsche was present at the church council discussion, said Nuremberg regional bishops spokesman Jonas Schiller, Protestant Press Service (epd).
He then decided, with his consent, to transfer Dreher to another service beginning November 15, initially with general church duties. This means that the substantive dispute with the pastor can continue “without further compromising peace in the community or its unit,” he said.
The Protestant Church has taken many positions against the European refugee policy and the lack of state maritime salvage in the Mediterranean. Specifically, it supports the “United4Rescue” alliance, which made the civilian rescue ship “Sea-Watch 4” mission possible in the summer.
