Religious influence overpowers America

From a nearby cathedral tower a deep gong sounds the hour, a reminder of the church’s once strong influence throughout Germany. However, nowadays, a very small minority of Germans actually go to church or claim to be Christians.

While morality and spirituality are greatly valued here in Germany, the need to go to church or to adhere to specific religious texts is not important for most Germans. The idea that the Bible is the exact word of God and should be taken literally is essentially non-existent here.

It is very interesting to me, as a Christian (open and non-exclusive), to observe people who have no religious affiliation act more morally and empathetically than some people who claim to be true Christians.

The influence of religion in the United States permeates the media and education system as well. The ban on nudity or sex on television and minimal sex education can be credited to Christian values of abstinence before marriage. Also interesting to note is that these restrictive methods have not stopped the United States from having the highest teenage pregnancy rates of any country in the developed world, with a rate of 55 teenage pregnancies out of every 1,000. In Germany, where there are no such restrictions, the pregnancy rate is 13 out of every 1,000.

An interesting irony exists in the United States with the separation of church and state: the American government maintains that the two entities must be separate, although religious rhetoric often dictates public policy. One of the better examples of this is gay marriage and the continuing discrimination against it. The logic almost always stems from the Bible, and states that marriage is a holy sacrament exclusively between a man and a woman.

Strange that interpreted biblical scripture directs how the government makes and maintains laws.

Jedes verbindung zu gott ist persönlich.

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