German politics and the Christian cross

Crosses on chains are offered in a devotional objects shop 

in Munich, southern Germany, on June 1, 2018. (AFP)

The government of Bavaria has decided to instruct 

all state administrative buildings in the German state 

to display a cross in their public entrances by June 1.

A controversial decree requiring Christian crucifixes to be installed at entrances of most public buildings in Bavaria came into force on Friday, sparking accusations of identity politics ahead of elections in the southern German state.

Markus Soeder, Bavaria's conservative state premier, had initiated the measure in April, saying "the cross is a fundamental symbol of our Bavarian identity and way of life."

But the order sparked an outcry, with critics accusing Soeder of politicising a religious symbol as his CSU party battles to claw back voters who have turned to the far-right and Islamophobic AfD ahead of state election in October.

"Soeder has misused the cross for an election manoeuvre," the region's Social Democrat chief Natascha Kohnen told the Augsburger Allgemeine daily.

Soeder was also widely mocked, including by the state premier of neighbouring Baden-Wuerttemburg, Winfried Kretschmann, who said a photo of his Bavarian colleague holding the cross made him "think of a vampire film."

But among the harshest condemnations was that from Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the president of the German Bishops' Conference, who warned Soeder that "if the cross is viewed only as a cultural symbol, then it has not been understood."

"Then the cross is being expropriated by the state," said Marx in an interview with Sueddeutsche daily, adding that it must not be used as a tool to exclude.

Amid the push-back, Soeder's office had sought to tone down the decree, saying that while it was compulsory for buildings like police stations, courts or ministry offices, it was merely recommended for higher educational institutions, museums and theatres.

From here.

Wisdom and knowledge gained ... Beside the Creek

A blog can take many forms. So can an interfaith organisation.  So to begin, the first post is in a reflective mood.  It is a poem from which this blog takes its title ... Beside The Creek.  The poem is by the great Australian poet, Judith Wright. Wright was in her lifetime a significant environmentalist.  From both her literary works and her environmental advocacy, we can see that she was a person who was immersed in the Australian landscape in all its variety and forms.  Beside The Creek is a reflective poem.  It is written in the first person and in a reflective tone.  The "I" of the poem writes from the perspective of having been on a journey in which wisdom was learned.  The "I" now has a more mature knowledge which means actions are now different because of the wisdom and knowledge gained.  May our reflections have similar results.

Beside the Creek

by Judith Wright 

Under the wavering water shine the stones,

rounded in ruby-colours and clouded white.

Once I walked barefoot into that cool

Never-ceasing flow. I gathered once

Pebbles and ripples, the skimming rounds of light,

And took them home.

Now I am no such fool,

no such blest and envied stupid child

as to believe those colours, that once dry

gathered dust on a top shelf, heavy and dull

as pages written, pages forgotten and filed.

Here on the bank I sit unmoving; I

know the ungathered alone stays beautiful

and the best poem is the poem I never wrote.

Or so I said, watching the summer through.

But oh – years, time, you hoarsen here a throat

that sang all day without suspecting you;

stiffen the hands that gathered rubies then,

and open now, to show this dubious stone.

The poem can be found in -

Judith Wright - Collected poems  1942-1970

(A & R Modern Poets)

1971