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Besides the dangerous monopoly structures in the digital economy, there is a danger for liberty and justice as they are crucial for pluralistic democracies in the digital world, says Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Bedford-Strohm is also chairperson of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany and was a keynote speaker at the opening of the symposium exploring challenges and opportunities for a more just digital future, in Berlin on 13-15 September, and co-organized by the EKD.

The forthcoming 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) is an opportunity for churches to proclaim a message of the good news of love and liberation, according the moderator of the WCC central committee, Dr Agnes Abuom.

Germany’s main Protestant and Roman Catholic churches have announced plans for a campaign to be launched in January 2021 to encourage Christians to take a clear stand against increasing antisemitism, recognizing it also has Christian roots.

Protestants in Germany have commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, made by German church leaders to an international ecumenical delegation shortly after the Second World War, in which they confessed their failings and shortcomings in opposing National Socialism and the Third Reich.

Only a church that overcomes ethnic, racial and national hatreds can be a credible sign of freedom and reconciliation, the interim general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca has said in an address to mark the 75th anniversary of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt by German Protestant leaders after the Second World War.

The rescue ship Sea-Watch 4, purchased by a crowdfund led by the Evangelical Church in Germany, is ready to start operating in the Mediterranean Sea to help migrants attempting to reach Europe from North Africa.

The chairs of the German Bishops’ Conference and the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany released on 22 June a statement on Germany’s Council presidency. On 1 July Germany will take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
“God keeps God’s promises to us human beings,” the statement reads. “And God gives us the strength to contribute our part to a successful outcome.”

The executive committee, on behalf of the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has decided, in close consultation with the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and other host churches and local partners, to postpone the 11th assembly, originally planned for September 2021 in Karlsruhe, Germany, until 2022.

Bishop Johannes Hempel of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony, a former president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) who led his church in East Germany during the period of the Cold War confrontation, the 1989 peaceful revolution, and German unification, has died aged 91.

Citing an “appalling record” of failure to rescue refugees at sea, the Evangelical Church in Germany, along with other faith-based and civil society groups, are calling for better solutions.