Progressive monk calls unity of the Church a fiction, traditionalism an optical illusion
Theme Week "Rightward Shift in Germany" - What Our Society Needs Now (5)
Elmar Salmann: AfD takes advantage of society's constant overtaxing of itself
How dangerous is the shift to the right in Germany? In a theme week, Kirche-und-Leben.de gets to the bottom of this - for example with Father Elmar Salmann OSB, philosopher and theologian, long-time professor in Rome and monk of Gerleve Abbey.
The rise of the AfD and with it radical right-wing, racist and anti-democratic positions in Germany is worrying. How serious is the situation? How resilient is society? What can the church do? In a theme week, Kirche-und-Leben.de asks clever minds for their assessment. Every day. Today: the philosopher and theologian, professor and monk Elmar Salmann OSB, Gerleve Abbey.
Father Elmar, we see developments similar to those in Germany in Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, also in Russia and the USA. How do you interpret this?
The answer to that can only be very complex. In 1990, we thought that our western parliamentary, human rights-oriented, democratic system had won and was the culture of the future. It could seem that way for about ten years - but in Italy it was already collapsing at that time. Then it turned out that democracy is a tremendously strenuous form of organising society.
At the same time, democratic man emerged - that is, one who thinks of himself in terms of others: everyone is something absolutely special, must be promoted as such, everyone is completely equal, every minority must be respected. But this anthropological way of life undermines representative democracy with its parties, highly complex coalition negotiations and need for compromise. Such movements only increase confusion and thus awaken the longing for the strong man.
A concomitant development: if people are no longer capable of the differentiations of democracy, if the world instead divides into angry citizens and the chosen, into good and evil, if people can no longer accept one another - as we are experiencing everywhere, in the USA, in the church, in Germany - then this is the death of democracy, of understanding one another and promotes totalitarianism. Then the one must win absolutely.
In current polls, the AfD is polling at 21 per cent. How could it come to this 78 years after the end of the Nazi dictatorship?
The AfD is a party that feeds on resentment and trauma. Moreover, I have the impression that almost everyone is overwhelmed with our open, multi-layered society trimmed for perfection, as the many burn-outs show. We thought everything was working - the health system, the economy, the communication requirements, peace, coping with the refugee crisis and then also the supply chains. Yet we see: We are simply not up to it. Not even the parties, not even politics. It is not surprising that many people want a simpler world, a reduction in complexity. Those who offer solutions, even if they are not solutions, have good cards. The AfD still has to pass the government test.
In the Catholic Church, too, there are tendencies towards a conservative, delimiting profile; here, too, experts speak of a shift to the right. How do you assess this development?
Elmar Salmann lived in Italy for 30 years, was professor of theology and philosophy at several international universities in Rome and is still highly respected in political and intellectual circles. As a monk, he observes the course of time in this country with an open-minded detachment.
This is a parallel development in the history of the soul. It is not easy to withstand today's pastoral situation with so many different groups and walks of life and to grant a space without losing the outline. There, too, the attraction of the easier solution applies - for example, with regard to liturgy, doctrine and morals. They insist on ecclesial unity, which is, however, a fiction. For they fail to realise that they are only a post-modern set piece in the ecclesiastical landscape, but consider themselves to be the integral. An optical illusion.
Cathcon: Unbelieveable. Modernists destroy the unity of the Catholic Church and then proclaim it a fiction. Their faction will be a fragment that falls victim to post-modernism, not traditionalism.
In the Westphalian Catholic Münsterland, the AfD still can't get a foothold. How do you explain that?
As the Catholic Church, we have the international, we know about completely different cultures. A relaxed, receptive, generous approach to every opinion, to every person - that is actually part of the DNA of Catholic cultural behaviour. And I think it also belongs to us Christians the applied relativity of all things: being at one with finitude, which is not, however, the infinite. We still have a horizon that reaches beyond the finite, so the finite does not have to give up everything. Parties that present themselves as the solution, the final solution, have little chance. That goes against the Catholic sense of style.
What should the Church do to counter this shift to the right?
We should tell people that they can be proud of themselves. That we live in a good society for which we have to be grateful. Besides, we no longer have anything to be collectively proud of. In the past, there was more belonging - to the party, to one's origin, to the family, to the church. That has completely disappeared. Everyone can only be proud of what they represent. That must be overwhelming. But nothing will change in the near future. It's different for minorities, but for ordinary citizens there's nothing left. The AfD also benefits from this.
What clout does the Catholic Church still have in society as a whole, despite its loss of relevance on this issue?
None at the moment. But if we come across as wise-spirited, perhaps more so. Especially since we have our own experience of absolute decline to tell. In a sense, we have the despair behind us, the outcome is still open. But we can look at which doors open and close and move forward groping, receptive, amazed, vulnerable, courageous and humble and tell this story of ours.
And just look at "The tragedy that is Father Salmann" from an interview in Observatore Romano
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