The German Evangelical Church (EKD) has stripped one of its pastors
of his parish office after he announced his candidacy for the
Saxony-Anhalt local elections, representing the national conservative
Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, Junge Freiheit wrote.
The pastor, Martin Michaelis, has been running for a seat in the Quedlinburg city council in AfD colors once before and ended up in the spotlight during the pandemic for criticizing the church’s vaccination campaign, which branded taking the COVID vaccine “an expression of active Christian charity.”
After taking part in a protest against the government’s pandemic measures, Michaelis was transferred from his parish in Quedlinburg and given the office of the nearby Gatersleben, where he has been serving until now.
As the party’s popularity reached record highs earlier this year, Michaelis’ decision to run again on the AfD’s list has proved to be a red line for his church, which has apparently subscribed to the mainstream narrative that AfD consists of dangerous right-wing extremists bent on destroying German democracy.
“It is in the interest of the church that pastors are also politically involved, but this does not apply to engagement in parties that take constitutionally questionable positions,” the Evangelical church said in a statement on Monday. “With the candidacy for the AfD, Mr. Michaelis supports the ideas of the AfD. … This is not compatible with the position of pastor.”
The rise of AfD has prompted the German mainstream forces to launch an unprecedented media campaign against the party and “right-wing extremism” in general.
Just recently, the German Lutheran Church also joined the massive “Together for Democracy” alliance made of civil society actors, legacy media outlets, and the largest German companies aiming to rally the population against this purported right-wing menace.
The past weeks’ relentless campaign against the AfD did have an effect in the polls, as the party’s popularity dropped to 19% from its 22% peak in late December.
Still, the populist party continues to keep second place nationwide, behind only the center-right CDU/CSU but ahead of all three parties of the governing trio.
AfD is currently leading the polls in three German states and is projected to secure 20 seats in the European parliament in June.