RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Germanus
Germany
Protestants. The Jews constitute about 1 per cent of the population.
Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the
Protestant Church of Germany is that it is not
divided into numerous rival denominations. This
church has been liberal and. found room in its fold
for men of divergent views. The dis-
2. The tinction between Lutherans and Re- Protestant formed has existed since the Refor-
Church. mation; and attempts to unite the two confessions by acts of government (as in Prussia in 1817; see Prussia) have produced the " United Evangelical Church " and bodies of " Separated Lutherans " who objected to the Union (see Lutherans, II.). But Lutherans, Reformed, and the Separatists are all reckoned to the " Evangelical Church " (for " Sectarianism in Germany " and the connotation of the word "sect," see below, II.). Liberty of conscience is secured by the several state constitutions and by imperial law. The Evangelical Church does not concern the empire as such, but is the affair of the individual states, each of which has its own church or churches which it supports. For organization, church government, and more detailed information, see the articles on the individual states ; see also the denominational articles, particularly Lutherans. Information concerningChristian work and the religious life in Germany will be found in the articles on special organized agencies, such as Bund, evangelischer; Conference, Free Ecclesiastical-Social; Deacon; Deaconess; Eisenach Conference; Gustav-Adolf-Verein; 1nnere Mission; etc., and certain peculiarly German problems in church government and the relation between Church and State are discussed from the German standpoint in Church and State; Church Government; Collegialism; and Territorialism.
In 1900 the Evangelical Church in Germany had 17,454 clerical charges, 14,213 parishes, 10,037 stations, and 1,014 dioceses. Candidates for the ministry must complete a prescribed course of theological study at a university and pass certain examinations. The average yearly salary for a clergyman at the start is 2,260 marks; the average maximum salary is 3,564 marks. Hamburg pays the highest salaries, that of a beginner being 4,000 marks, the maximum 6,000 marks. Pensions vary from about 1,000 to 4,000 marks, according to length of service. Pensions for widows amount to 20 to 25 per cent of the highest salary drawn by the husband, and usually an extra allowance is made for the children.
The Roman Catholic Church in Germany is organized into five archbishoprics and twenty bishoprics, as follows: the archbishopric of
3. The Cologne, with bishoprics of Miinster, Roman Paderborn, and Treves; the archbish- Catholic opric of Gnesen-Posen, with the bish- Church. opric of Culm; the archbishopric of
Munich-Freising, with bishoprics of Augsburg, Passau, and Regensburg; the archbishopric of Bamberg, with bishoprics of Eichstatt, Wtirzburg, and Speyer; the archbishopric of Freiburg, with bishoprics of Fulda, Limburg, Mainz, and Rottenburg; and the six exempt bishoprics of Breslau, Ermland, Hildesheim, Osnabriick, Stras-
burg, and Metz. There are three apostolic vicariates, one for Saxony, one for Anhalt, and one for the northern missions; also two apostolic prefectures, one for Sleswick-Holsteinandone for Lusatia. The Roman Church is subsidized by the various states just as is the Evangelical Church, and, in some cases, the Jewish Church. The Old Catholics have a bishop at Bonn.
In 1872 began in Germany the so-called Kulturkampf, during the course of which numerous stringent laws were passed against the Roman Catholics (see Ultramontanism). These measures, with the exception of the law expelling the Jesuits, were later repealed; and in 1904, through their powerful political party, the Centrum, the Catholics secured the repeal of the clause of this law giving full power to expel individual members of the Society of Jesus and kindred orders. Other clauses of the law excluding from the empire such orders in their corporate capacity remain in force. This is practically the only restriction now placed on the Roman Catholics in Germany. See German Catholicism.
Education is compulsory throughout the empire
for children from about the sixth to the fourteenth
year, though the school-age varies
4. Edu- somewhat in the different states. cation. The percentage of illiteracy is only about one-half of one per cent. Despite increasing agitation for secular education, public elementary schools are usually confessional, being either Protestant or Roman Catholic; and local supervision of schools is still largely in the hands of the clergy (see Church and School). In the curriculum religion has its place with other subjects. The system of secondary and technical education is admirable, and there are twenty-one universities in the empire, each having, as a rule, distinct faculties of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. The theological faculties are Roman Catholic in the universities of Freiburg, Miinster, and Wiirzburg. At Bonn, Breslau, Strasburg, and Tubingen there are both Evangelical and Roman Catholic theological faculties. All the universities are maintained and administered by the states in which they are located.]
II. Sectarianism in Germany : The word " sect " is derived from the Latin sequor, " to follow," or from seco in the sense of sequor. In classical Latin secta meant a mode of thinking, acting, or living, then specifically a political party or philosophical school or tendency. The Vulgate used the word to translate the Greek hairesis in Acts xxiv. 5, xxvi. 5, and in other passages where it means simply the religious tendency which one has chosen. In the Epistles of the New Testament the 1. Meaning term has reference to the formation of " Sect." of factions within the Christian congregation (cf. Gal. v. 20; II Pet. ii. 1). This usage was continued by the Church, and Luther employed Sekte in his translation of the Bible in the same sense. Under present conditions in Germany, distinction must be made between the political and the church use of language. The State regards as sects all religious communities that are not acknowledged by it. But it is conceivable that the relation of the State to the Evangelical state
Germany Gernler