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APPENDIX 6. Statement by the Council of Brethren of the Evangelical Church of Germany Concerning the Political Course of Our People (Darmstadt Statement, August 1947) 1. We have been given the message of the reconciliation of the world with God in Christ. We must listen to this Word, accept it, act upon it and fulfill it. We are not listening to this Word, nor accepting it, nor acting upon it, not fulfilling it, unless we are absolved from our common guilt, from our fathers’ guilt as well as our own, and unless we follow the call of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, leading us out of all the false and evil ways into which we, as Germans, have strayed in our political aims and actions. 2. We went astray when we began to dream about a special German mission, as if the German character could heal the sickness of the world. In so doing we prepared the way for the unrestricted exercise of political power, and set our own nation on the throne of God. It was disastrous to lay the foundations of our state at home solely on a strong government, and abroad solely on military force. In so doing we have acted contrary to our vocation, which is to cooperate with other nations in our common tasks, and to use the gifts given to us for the benefit of all nations. 3. We went astray when we began to set up a “Christian Front” against certain new developments which had become necessary in social life. The alliance of the Church with the forces which clung to everything old and conventional has revenged itself heavily upon us. We have betrayed the Christian freedom which enables us and commands us to change the forms of life, when such a change is necessary for men to live together. We have denied the right of revolution ; but we have condoned and approved the development of absolute dictatorship. 4. We went astray when we thought we ought to create a political front of good against evil, light against darkness, justice against injustice, and to resort to political methods. In so doing we distorted God’s free grace to all by forming a political, social and philosophical front, and left the world to justify itself. 5. We went astray when we failed to see that the economic materialism of Marxist teaching ought to have reminded the Church of its task and its promise for the life and fellowship of men. We have failed to take up the cause of the poor and unprivileged as a Christian cause, in accordance with the message of God’s Kingdom. 6. In recognizing and confessing this, we know that we are absolved as followers of Christ, and that we are now free to undertake new and better service to the glory of God and the welfare of mankind. It is not the phrase “Christianity and Western Culture” that the German people, and particularly we Christians, need today. What we need is a return to God and to the service of our neighbor, through the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This translation is from the Ecumenical Press Service 31 (12 September 1947), 215. 7. We have borne witness, and today we do so once again: “Through Jesus Christ we experience a joyous liberation from the ungodly fetters of this world for free and grateful service to all whom he has created.” We therefore pray constantly: Do not let yourselves be overcome by despair, for Christ is the Lord. Say good-bye to the indiªerence of unbelief; do not be led astray by dreams of a better past or by speculations about another war; but in freedom and all soberness realize the responsibility which rests upon us all to rebuild a better form of government in Germany, that shall work for justice and for the welfare, peace and reconciliation of the nations. 194 | APPENDIX 6 ...

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