Politischer Diskurs und religiöse Kommunikation in der Großkirche. Leistungen und Gestaltungspotenziale der Kirchengemeinde in politischen Fragen

This article analyses how Protestant local congregations deal with political-cultural topics. Based on an empirical study within the Protestant Church in Germany and an ethnological study carried out in four exemplary congregations, further findings are now presented. The analysis reveals four steps in which a church congregation can contribute to assessing political-cultural topics as life-world topics of its members and integrate them into its social processes. The article thus shows the process steps in which different topics from the socio-political context such as “political views”, “asylum and migration”, “Islam”, “infrastructural changes”, “sexual orientation”, “Social problems” and “environment and climate” can be connected to the religious communication of the local congregation: The ideological access to a political topic—as a topic that can be seen as one of a christian congregation—is managed with the help of biblical-theological, systematic-theological and pastoral-theological reflections. Subsequently, the topic can be located in processes of communication in the congregation and its recognition can be ensured. Now congregations can operate and regulate the discourse and possible conflicts. Ensuring a balance between unity and conflict proves to be a central task for the congregation. In this mode, it can act as a platform for engagement and participation and prove to be a powerful social entity within the mainline church.