With her demand for a ban on members of the AfD from holding office in the Catholic Church, ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp has triggered a broad response. Now the "Christians in the AfD" have also spoken out.
The "Christians in the AfD" have rejected the demand of the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp, for a ban on members of the party holding office in the Catholic Church. "The statements of the president of the ZdK show a great ignorance of the AfD's programme and current political work," the group's chairman, European parliamentarian Joachim Kuhs, told the Protestant news agency idea on Wednesday. Stetter-Karp dubbed the AfD as extremist, inhuman and anti-Semitic without giving any examples. This was not only unfair, but also an expression of an underdeveloped debate culture.
In an interview on Monday, Stetter-Karp had spoken out in favour of denying AfD members access to lay church offices. It was "clear that anti-Semitic, racist, inhuman attitudes and statements have no place in a Catholic organisation", she told the Münster-based internet portal "kirche-und-leben.de" on Tuesday. The ZdK president's demand had triggered a broad response and rekindled the debate on how the church should deal with the AfD.
Constitutional protection classifies party as right-wing extremist "suspect case"
Kuhs went on to say that the AfD is now the only party represented in the Bundestag that professes "without any ifs or buts" to support the Christian values of the protection of life at the beginning and end of human life. The party also does this in its programme for the European elections next year. "And more and more people, presumably precisely those who are running away in droves from a politicised church that is forgetting its mission, are finding in the AfD the support and appreciation they sought in vain in their previous environment," the AfD politician said. The "Christians in the AfD" are an association within the party; according to their own information, they had around 300 members in 2020.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has classified the AfD and its youth organisation "Junge Alternative" as a right-wing extremist "suspect case" for some time. In the annual report presented at the end of June, the BfV for the first time devotes a separate section to the party. The office justifies its observation by stating that "numerous anti-foreigner and anti-Muslim positions are heard from the party". Parts of the AfD are engaged in "disparaging the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany". The party is currently taking legal action against the classification as a "suspect case" before the Münster Higher Administrative Court.
Cathcon: If anyone should be barred from holding office it is Stetter-Karp as she supports the abortion-enabling Donum Vitae.
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