Category: Religion

The churches are empty and hardly anyone prays anymore, for example before eating. Fewer and fewer people seem to have anything to do with religion. Is there a need for religion classes at all?? We asked two religion teachers from caspar-vischer-gymnasium. Religion is for the church.

Many believe that. But religion is inextricably linked to our society and therefore also has a firm place in our schools. Religious education is a regular subject – a pre-printed subject, which means that if you get bad grades, you can fail. "But it rarely actually happens," explains the, female rainer seifferth (49), who has been teaching protestant religion at the caspar-vischer-gymnasium in kulmbach for many years.

Who thinks along …
"If you think a little in class and participate, you don't have to sit out because of religion." What you learn in religion class is not measurable like in math or geography. "Of course, there is also material here that needs to be learned, says seifferth "but it's really about learning and practicing how to think for yourself".

At the political dammerschoppen of the european union hammelburg on tuesday, 11. April, member heinz ziegler will report on his trip to iran. The evening in the europahaus starts at 7 p.M. Ziegler trims his lecture to include his own powerful visuals.
Iran, formerly known as persia, was a great empire that stood on a high cultural level. The photos that ziegler brought with him bear witness to a vanished high culture. Militarily, the persians put considerable pressure on the romans in the east of their empire. Persia could not be conquered militarily by the romans in the long run. Persia’s wealth and culture radiated to europe in the middle ages.
Heinz ziegler sheds light on the difficult political situation in the islamic country that turned to the west under the last shah reza pahlavi. In a religious counter-movement led by khomeini since 1979, iran, which at that time was oriented towards the west, was transformed into an islamic theocracy. Power, politics and religion have been in the hands of religious leaders ever since.
Only recently the land opens up to tourism. Heinz ziegler was one of the first to take advantage of this opportunity to get to know the country, its people and its history on the spot and to document them photographically. The speaker brings current knowledge from the middle east to the europe house. In an interview with ziegler, the first ideas emerged in the european union’s executive committee to work out a trip to iran and put it out to tender. Guests – even non-members – are welcome at the APG event. Dieter galm

"Many people have abandoned the christian religion", said dr. Gerhard breidenstein, speaker at the heiligenfeld talk. The invitation from the heiligenfeld academy on the subject of "spirituality beyond religions" was accepted more than 50 interested people followed.
But breidenstein also explained that people will not lose their faith. "Spirituality is in demand again, but without an attachment to a particular religion", according to the evangelical theologian. The longing for the "coarser", "transcendence", there is a need for a new individual spirituality. In his opinion, mystical spirituality is particularly compatible with a modern, systemic view of the world.

Mysticism as common ground

Breidenstein divided his lecture into three sections. In the first part he clarified the concepts of faith, religion, religiosity, consciousness, mysticism and spirituality. "Mysticism is the common factor in the religions", breidenstein said. The mystical center of all religions is shown in buddhism in zen, in islam in sufism, in nature-religion in shamanism. It is based on a holistic view of the world, an all-connectedness and offers a counterweight to materialism. It can thus be the answer to power, violence and crisis.
In the second part of his talk, he presented his faith in a poem and encouraged people to take time to ask the question "what do i believe in??". "Spirituality is not viable in the long term if it is not practiced", said breidenstein and began with these words his third part, the implementation in practice. It needs forms of expression such as rituals or the practice of mindfulness.

Round table discussion

In the discussion that followed, questions about one’s own faith, meaning, longing and one’s own lived spirituality were openly discussed. "A very interesting lecture, from a wise man", the participants agreed.