Dare to Ask: Why don't Germans pray in public?

By Phillip Milano

The Florida Times-Union

Question

I notice many Germans don't pray before they eat, attend church or seem spiritual. Why is that?

Anjela, 30, Christian, Germany

Replies

In Europe, few go to church. It's the same in Australia. Most understand the church and its stories are wonderful interpretations from the past of why we exist. But they alone tell us little about our relations today. — Kent, 60, Episcopalian, Melbourne

Christianity to some of us is more than "stories." It is a creed, a code of ethics and beliefs. — Jack, 57, Christian, Suwanee, Ga.

In Germany, an active religious life with prayers, Bible classes and church attendance is a minority thing. You'll raise eyebrows if you pray in public, and would be considered immensely odd. Additionally, church attendance has been dwindling for decades, though people still pay their church taxes to support charity work done by church institutions. — T., 32, atheist female, Munich

Expert says

While that secularist stuff does abound in Germany and Western Europe, wide swaths of folks remain religious. But in general, they don't air it out in public as much as Americans might, said Jutta Ittner, a Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) professor who teaches German literature and culture.

"Here there's a church on every corner," said Ittner, who is from Bavaria. "You can create your own church and find your own flock. But in Germany, the priests and ministers are academics and belong to huge institutions ... so the masses don't feel personally attached. Here, religion seems a social thing, with lots of hugging and hand-holding. People in Germany would think they're in the wrong movie over there if they saw that."

Low church attendance and lack of a personal connection may also be because religion itself has been such a long institution in Germany - and suspicion of institutions heightened during and after World War II.

"The churches weren't beacons of truth in the Third Reich ... some wonderful religious people stood up against Hitler, but the church in general didn't," Ittner said. "Germans are very suspicious of any type of ideology."

Heap onto that requirements to pay church taxes and take religious coursework in school, and you get a populace that can harbor resentment toward religion.

"With the courses, you learn about issues, but not about a personal connection or about praying. [So you] don't get a feel for a real religious experience. That prevents an intimate understanding. And, you don't talk about it publicly. You'd be viewed as eccentric."

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Phillip Milano, author of I Can't Believe You Asked That! (Perigee), moderates cross-cultural dialogue at Y? The National Forum on People's Differences. Keep the cross-cultural dialogue going at our Jacksonville.com blog or at www.yforum.com, or mail comments to Phillip Milano, Times-Union, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231. Send general column comments to yforum (at) yforum.com. You can also hear his podcasts.