Free Thought and Humanism

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Renate Bauer Translated by Brian Kelly

apere aude! Courageously use your common sense!" Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels—who, starting from a critique This saying from 's essay "What Is of Feuerbach, formulated their own political theory with prac- SEnlightenment?" quite precisely marks the official be- tical conclusions and thereby went far beyond the demand for ginning of free thought in Germany. Kant's demand for the freedom of thought—but also the free-religionist groups that critical application of reason was especially inspiring to writers began to appear around the middle of the nineteenth century. and other educated people. It is interesting to note that Kant Friedrich Nietzsche, whose "God is dead" philosophy still spoke not of the right to think for oneself but rather of the provokes discussion today, can be named as the third philoso- courage that this endeavor required, and later of the duty to pher of German free thought, although his influence upon free- use one's reason. For many people, even today, freedom of thinking and free-religionist groups is harder to determine than thought seems not so much a right or a necessity as a test of that of Feuerbach. courage not frequently submitted to. Nevertheless, Kant's strict Besides the philosophers, the other historical figures whose systematism in philosophy and ethics proved itself ineffective. advocacy of human autonomy found expression in highly quot- It failed to stimulate people to oppose their respective state able formulations were Goethe and Schiller. Goethe's pantheism religions (Protestantism in , Catholicism in Bavaria, with added a unique coloring to the development of new religious the rest of Germany divided between the two) with freethinking and freethinking movements. One must also not forget Gotthold organizations of their own. An additional factor was Kant's Lessing, whose humanism and advocacy of religious tolerance defense of the traditional belief in God. Although he rejected had widespread influence. the classic proofs of God's existence, he substituted his own, the so-called moral proof. A shortened and usually corrupted rom the references above to important figures who formu- version of this argument is still gladly employed by the theolo- Flated concepts for a true freedom of thought, much can be gians in their disputes with atheists and people of other faiths, inferred regarding the spiritual climate in the German-speaking although it is ill suited to this purpose. states during the first part of the nineteenth century. This By contrast, Ludwig Feuerbach's materialist philosophy had climate was characterized by a mood of rebellion against the a substantially greater influence about fifty years later upon the authoritarian state and Germany's political fragmentation. The formation of freethinking and free-religionist groups. His philo- ideas and events of the French Revolution contributed sub- sophical analyses of religion, where he portrayed the various stantially to this climate, and its excesses were not enough to concepts of divinity as projections of man's self-ideal and called extirpate the impression that civil freedom was possible. After for the founding of a new nature-religion, influenced not only 1815 the "Restoration," another word for the restrengthening of authoritarian government in the German states, increased Renate Bauer has studied political pressure and led to intensified persecution of political psychology and philosophy dissenters. Added to this were the effects of the industrial in West Germany and the revolution, which so worsened the economic situation of the United States. She is head lower middle-class, farmers, and workers that tens of thousands of the Freireligioese Landes- sought a brighter future through emigration. gemeinde Pfalz in Ludwig- Thus during this period many social tensions coincided with shafen. the citizens' desire for political freedom and self-determination; for the abolishment of restrictive intra-German borders and the

Spring 1987 35 In Germany itself, the German League of Free-Religionist "It seems to me better to offer positive help in the Congregations (Der Bund Freireligiöser Gemeinden Deutsch- search for personal meaning; to create a sense of lands, or the BFGD) was formed in 1859 out of the surviving community and establish forums for discussion .. . German-Catholic and independent Protestant congregations and was later joined by newly revived congregations. humanism is a vibrant way of life that can be pursued The congregations began to divorce themselves more and independently of apathy or Christian dogma." more from Christian ideas and rites. The period up through the founding by Bismarck of the German national state proved creation of a unified nation-state; for freedom in religion from to be a difficult one for the congregations. The flame that had the traditional Christian churches, which assiduously aided the been lit in 1848 had been thoroughly put out; and, with the authorities in repressing the citizens; and not least of all for disappearance of the liberal-democratic movement in politics, financial security and a share in economic prosperity. all freethinking and free-religionist ideas and their proponents Because of the structure of the state, opportunities to effect appeared threatened. political change were practically nonexistent. The system sup- Alongside the independent congregations, the German ported a high degree of activity by informants and encouraged workers' movement came into being and gradually grew in denunciation. Indeed, among the best sources for current re- strength. It was influenced by the ideas of Feuerbach, Marx, search into the origin and development of the free religious and Engels, which determined its atheistic posture. movement are the carefully organized and preserved reports of As a result of Bismarck's battle with the , informants. It is therefore not surprising that liberal aspirations there was greater freedom to espouse other religious views. At at first expressed themselves in the seemingly unpolitical found- the same time a ban on the political activity of workers' groups ing of independent religious congregations, a somewhat natural caused them to seek other forms of activity, particularly in but nevertheless extremely controversial area. The immediate educational and free-thought organizations. In 1881 these historical impetus for this movement was the exhibition in the organizations joined together in the League of German Free- cathedral at of the so-called Holy Coat of Trèves. Many thinkers (Deutscher Freidenkerbund). During the last decade liberal-minded people who had been influenced by Enlighten- of the nineteenth century, and also after World War 1, this ment thought experienced this homage to superstition as a movement picked up extraordinary momentum. Its communal violation of reason. An open letter against this display by a celebrations of life, youth, and marriage resembled the social Catholic assistant priest named , written on structures of the existing independent religious congregations. October 1, 1844, found wide assent, and led, beginning in 1845, Coalitions of congregations, free-thought groups, and the to the formation of numerous "German Catholic" congrega- German League of Monists were formed in many localities. tions. These congregations rejected all notions of priestly medi- ation between man and God, declared reason to be the highest n 1906 the League of Monists, proposed by Professor Ernst arbiter, even in religion, and stressed the right of the individual I Haeckel, was founded. Its goal was the propagation of a to his own religious convictions as well as the necessity of a scientifically based world-view, a goal that it achieved in the new ethic and a new human togetherness based on the early freethinkers' movement and in the independent religious Christian concept of a community of love. congregations. It also attracted many interested outsiders. In 1841 a group of liberal ministers calling themselves Less organizationally strong but no less intrinsically signifi- "Friends of Light" joined together and made similar demands cant was the idea of "ethical culture." This idea, which was within the Protestant camp. promulgated in German-speaking countries in a magazine of The struggle for legal recognition of these new congregations the same name published by Rudolf Penzig starting in 1893, only contributed to the already growing and widespread polit- had as its goal the pedagogical and sociopolitical mediation of ical tension. This tension exploded in the Revolution of 1848, an autonomous ethical system. which led to the calling of a national constituent assembly in All these organizations received their strongest support the church of St. Paul at . Leading dissident German during the Weimar period (1918-1933). It was estimated at the Catholics and Protestant Friends of Light participated actively time that around 700,000 people belonged to these groups, and in these political events. This was not surprising since, in the a national steering committee was founded to coordinate their programs of the free congregations, religious, political, and efforts. Concurrently the freethinkers and free-religionists com- social demands were quite closely interwoven. In 1849 the bined into the People's League for Spiritual Freedom (der revolution was put down and numerous German Catholic Volksbund far Geistesfreiheit). There was, however, some divi- congregations were banned. , one of the intellectual siveness. Congregations in southwestern Germany set up a leaders of the revolution and an organizer of the free-religionist separate organization with the stated purpose of more faithfully movement, had been shot to death in in 1848. Leading preserving the free-religionist element. thinkers like Johannes Ronge had to go into exile. Karl Schurz, The freethinkers also experienced a split. Both the socialistic a brother-in-law of Ronge's, and Friedrich Hecker, a leader of and (somewhat later) the even more strongly Marxist-oriented the revolution in Baden, fled to the United States. Many others proletarian freethinkers broke away from the more middle- went with them, so that starting in 1852 free-religionist congre- class freethinkers' group, the League of German Freethinkers. gations were founded on American soil, most notably in Wis- These fights over direction substantially weakened the move- consin. ment as a whole. Often it seemed that the only thing uniting

36 FREE INQUIRY the disparate groups was their advocacy of cremation. the strength of the Christian churches, which were granted favored status by the occupying powers. The churches were, fter their underhanded seizure of power, the Nazis banned after all, the only institutions that had emerged from the col- Anot only their political opponents but also freethinking lapse of the Nazi empire unscathed. By contrast, the banned organizations. For the most part individual congregations and BFGD and all democratic political parties had to start over their sub-organizations were affected first, and only later the again from scratch. Civil administrators were suspect because national groups. In 1935 the People's League for Spiritual of their authoritarian training. The Cold War of the 1950s not Freedom, which in 1933 had changed its name back to "The only put a strain on international relations but also spawned a German League of Free-Religionist Congregations" (BFGD), general fear of communism within West Germany itself. This was banned. Its managing director at the time, Carl Peter, took its toll on the work of the free-religionist congregations, succeeded in founding a "front" group as a means of maintain- which had after all been banned by the Nazis as supposed ing some contact between the members and congregations. A "cover organizations" for Marxists. Members of free-religionist few congregations, primarily in southwest Germany, that had organizations had to contend with the prospect of exclusion already split off from the BFGD, were unaffected by the ban. from the teaching professions and the civil service. A compli- At the same time there arose separately numerous anti- cating factor was that in most regions church-run schools had clerical "leagues" and "movements" of a nationalist-racist been established, and consequently all teachers were required character. These groups hoped for broad-based support from to be Christian. In recent years, though, BFGD members have the Nazis, whose racist and authoritarian ideas were carried won equal employment rights in this field. over into the realm of religion and cosmology. The strongest The opposition of the BFGD to the rearmament of the and most "liberal" of these organizations was the German Faith Federal Republic, and to atomic weaponry in particular, also Movement (Deutsche Gldubensbewegung) led by Professor made it unpopular during the conservative period of the Cold Jakob W. Hauer. The free-religionist organizations at first War. As a result, almost all congregations have experienced an sought cover within this movement in order to continue their ongoing drop in membership since their refounding, which was own activities in safety. However, the attempt failed. The free- carried out largely by members who had been active before religionists were unwilling to sacrifice their democratic com- 1933. This trend continues today largely unchanged. munal structure to Hauer's and the Nazis' "Führer principle." Meanwhile, the established churches, especially the Protes- They were also unwilling to introduce the National Socialist's tant ones, have been losing members at the rate of more than racist rhetoric into their constitutions. 100,000 a year, although approximately 90 percent of the popu- All these nationalistically oriented "free" organizations soon lation is still organized into one or the other of the two tradi- realized that, ironically, the new government was not at all tional Christian churches. In addition, fundamentalist Christian eager to do battle with the Christian churches. On the contrary, sects are springing up, as well as other, primarily East Asian- the Nazis made great concessions, particularly to the Catholic oriented religious communities. church. By contrast, the older organizations are struggling to sur- vive. Attempts to spark enthusiasm for free thought or a t the end of World War II and of the Nazi regime, the humanistic outlook among portions of the so-called intelli- Apreviously banned independent congregations began to gentsia have met with no success. The reasons for this would reorganize everywhere, supported by Carl Peter, who worked require careful investigation. In the meantime, we must rely on toward a refounding and revitalizing of the BFGD. But this educated guesses. Some groups devote a large part of their was made difficult by the partition of Germany into zones of energies to attacking the church and Christian doctrine. This occupation. The large congregations in what is now Polish does not appear to me to be a very promising approach. Reli- territory, for instance, were permanently lost. As a result of the gious beliefs are for most people not based on reasoning, but growing tensions between the Eastern and Western powers, rather on the formation of habits and on emotional experiences; two separate organizations, with headquarters in Ludwigshafen often they constitute the core of a person's identity, the possible (West) and (East), had to be established. The East destruction of which can be perceived as very threatening. So it German half of the BFGD exists currently only on paper. seems to me better to offer positive help in the search for The middle-class League of Freethinkers never reorganized; personal meaning; to create a sense of community and establish today a single group exists in Berlin, in addition to a group forums for discussion; and to make clear that humanism is a that is essentially a descendant of the earlier proletarian vibrant way of life that can be pursued independently of apathy (Marxist) branch. Nor has the League of Monists ever regained or Christian dogma and yet include a recognition of religion's its old strength. positive elements. The attempts by the BFGD to achieve equal One new development has been the founding of the Reli- recognition within and by the state are beginning to bear fruit, gious Society of German Unitarians, like the BFGD a legal and the organization is now being greeted by many young public corporation. This group, which arose out of the Reli- West Germans as a helpful ethical alternative. gious Society of Free Alzey Protestants, has a monistic world- The free-religionists have already survived the hardest times view with heavy religious overtones. At the moment it suffers of crisis, banishment, and persecution. Why should they now from strong internal conflicts between a liberal, humanistic run aground, in an era of overabundance? This is a time when wing and a right wing characterizable as nationalist-racist. humanistic ideas and values are more urgently needed than The postwar reconstruction was substantially hindered by ever. •

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