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RELIGION-GERMANY: Committee for Pagan Fun Criticises Catholic 'Invasion'
By Maricel Drazer
COLOGNE, Germany, Aug 19, 2005 (IPS) - The "Committee for Pagan Fun", born out of
opposition to the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day, was created by
organisations and individuals who called for the creation of "religion-free
zones."
The German city of Cologne has been flooded this week by hundreds of
thousands of young Roman Catholics from all over the world, who have
occupied just about every public space, to take part in the World Youth Day
activities that began on Tuesday and included a visit by Pope Benedict XVI.
The Committee, made up of artists, psychologists, philosophers, pacifists,
atheists and people who do not identify with any religion, has organised
marches against World Youth Day, whose events stretch through Sunday.
The Committee also complains that one denomination has temporarily taken
over this city on the banks of the Rhine, and to a lesser extent the nearby
Düsseldorf and Bonn.
"Cologne has been invaded by an army of sanctimonious people," said
theologian Michael Schmidt Salomón, spokesman for the Committee.
"With our religion-free zones, we want to offer asylum to all of those who
feel persecuted by this state-sponsored 'holiness'," he told IPS.
Explaining the reasons behind the initiative, Schmidt Salomón said "many of
the conflicts and wars around the world are caused by religion or fuelled by
religious propaganda. The peace movement used to fight for nuclear weapons
free zones, and today we believe it's a good idea to also fight for
religion-free zones."
The Giordano Bruno Foundation and the International League of Non-Religious
and Atheists helped form the Committee for Pagan Fun.
The Committee is not opposed to Catholicism, but argues that religion should
be a private matter, and demands the effective separation of church and
state.
It also criticises the German state's financial support for the annual
Catholic youth gathering, which was created in 1985 by late John Paul II.
The 20th World Youth Day events will cost a total of around 100 million
euros, some 15 million of which is coming out of the state coffers in
Germany.
The federal government is providing 7.5 million euros, the western state of
North Rhine-Westphalia three million, the European Union 1.2 million, while
the city of Cologne has shelled out three million euros in infrastructure
works.
Only one-third of the 82 million people living in Germany identify
themselves as Catholics, one-third as Protestants, and one-third say they
belong to no religion.
"We are wondering why those who have no religion should subsidise this
Catholic show. Non-believers who pay their taxes are forced to help finance
an event of Catholic propaganda," protested Schmidt Salomón.
"With 100 million euros, unemployment subsidies could have been paid to
23,000 people for a year," he added.
The Committee also took aim at the media, saying coverage has been
uncritical and excessive. "The German media have become a clone of Vatican
Radio," complained the Committee.
"It's as if all of a sudden everyone were interested in hearing things about
the Church and its Youth Day 24 hours a day," Katrin, a student who supports
the ideas of the Committee, remarked to IPS. "It's impossible to listen to
the radio or watch TV without hearing about this event, almost exclusively."
"The Church is an old, wrinkled, obsolete dinosaur," said sculptor Jacques
Tilly, who created a float of a dinosaur wearing a crown and watching over a
flock of sheep.
"I don't want to insult any Christians, but I want to show that we are also
still here," he added.
Parallel to the week-long World Youth Day events, the Committee for Pagan
Fun organised a "Procession of Free Souls" through the centre of the city,
led by Tilly's "dinomobile", which drew cheers of support as well as angry
insults.
"It's no use trying to block out the sun with your hand, the undeniable
reality is that less and less people feel represented by the Church, even if
they believe in God," said an elderly man, Klaus, as he watched the march.
Official figures published this week for North Rhine-Westphalia show that
the number of Roman Catholics is shrinking in the state, one of the areas of
Germany with a strong Catholic tradition.
The three cities where the World Youth Day events are concentrated are all
located in the state.
The Catholic Church lost 61,000 members in the state in 2003, almost one
percent of the total number of faithful - a tendency also seen in the rest
of the country.
"In the past 30 years, the bishopric of Cologne has lost 200,000 believers,"
admitted the archbishop of the city, Cardinal Joachim Meisner.
"I already did the paperwork for dropping out of the Church. I'm not going
to continue backing causes that I don't believe in," Sven, a young history
teacher, told IPS.
In Germany, church-goers automatically hand over a portion of their income
to whichever denomination they belong to, following the tradition of
tithing. That means anyone who decides to leave a church must officially
drop out in order to stop making contributions.
The activities organised by the Committee have included films, meetings,
conferences and recitals in the three cities.
Meanwhile, on his visit to his home country, Pope Benedict condemned
anti-Semitism Friday as an "insane racist ideology, born of neo-paganism,"
after addressing a crowd of nearly 500,000 people from over 100 countries
Thursday.
The enthusiasm, banners and singing of those taking part in World Youth Day
have not silenced the differences that some young Catholics have with
certain stances taken by the Church and the conservative Pope, especially
the ban on the use of condoms, the secondary role given to women in the
Church, and the refusal to recognise homosexuality.
(END)
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