Churches fear loss of influence under new government

God and mammon find themselves on the same side in Germany these days, as big business and the big churches feel the chill wind of a change of government.

German business is unhappy with Mr Gerhard Schroder's incoming coalition of Social Democrats and Greens on account of plans to tilt economic policy towards workers rather than employers.

The Christian churches, however, are equally nervous about the new government, fearing a loss of influence over education and family law and worried that leftwingers want to rethink the entire relationship between Church and State.

"The new Bundestag will, on account of its political composition and the generational change, have fewer members who are personally familiar with the life of the church and who play an active part in it," said Mr Eckhart von Vietinghoff, a Hanover lawyer.

Mr von Vietinghoff is a member of the governing council of the Evangelical Church of Germany, the country's largest Protestant denomination.

The Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church of Germany each has almost 28 million members, accounting for 68 per cent of the German population between them. Mr Schroder is, like most Social Democrats, a Protestant, whereas the outgoing Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, is a Roman Catholic.

The churches are funded by a church tax which is collected by the state from taxpayers who register as members of individual denominations. Those who do not pay church tax are not entitled to church weddings, baptisms or funerals.

The churches support many of the changes promised by the new government, such as measures to make it easier for foreigners to become German citizens.

Mr Schroder also wants to include the churches in discussions with employers and unions about tackling Germany's unemployment problem.

Father Peter-Hans Langendorfer, secretary of the German Conference of Bishops, believes the government must act early to prove that it envisages a public role for the churches.

"If religious faith is, in a one-sided way, branded as a personal matter that everyone must work out for himself and must not trouble anyone else with, then the contribution expected from the Church to the State and society will not be possible," he said.

The Roman Catholic Church clashed with Dr Kohl's government over an instruction from the Pope ordering Catholic Pregnancy Advice Centres not to issue certificates which would allow women to have an abortion.

German women are required to prove that they received counselling before they terminate a pregnancy. The Church is hoping to find a compromise which will satisfy the Pope but will prevent the government from cutting off funds to Catholic Pregnancy Advice Centres.

The first conflict between the new government and the churches is likely to concern attempts to reduce legal discrimination against homosexuals. Both main churches are rigidly opposed to any measure that would give gay couples the same rights as those who are married.

The new government will not introduce "gay marriage" but it will give some legal recognition to same-sex partnerships.

Eleven thousand Germans have died of AIDS during the past 15 years, most of them young gay men.

In many cases, these people were condemned to lonely deaths without the support of partners who had none of the legal rights of blood relations.

Mr Stefan Etgeton, chairman of the Deutsche Aids Hilfe, said the partners who survived often faced eviction if rental contracts were in the name of the deceased person.

"These people not only lose their friend but their home too and this is a great burden. I think the Church is badly advised and short-sighted in failing to acknowledge different ways of living," he said.