Answers from the parties
The state has the task of protecting this free and democratic guiding culture. This also includes guaranteeing its citizens external, internal and social security. In the balancing act between security and the preservation of personal freedoms, our confidence in the state under the rule of law is great. That state should be capable of defending itself. Those who do not accept its guiding culture should be sanctioned or – where possible – expelled from the country.
The strength of the state under the rule of law depends, among other things, on three components:
1. possessing the means of sanction, 2. those means being known to those they address, and 3. those means being used credibly.
The state should maintain its separation from religious institutions. There should be no separate prayer rooms for any religion in public buildings and, apart from religious education, no exceptions should be made to the curriculum content of state schools.
The people in Germany rightly expect a strong state that stands protectively in front of them so that they can continue to live safely and freely in the future. This is precisely what the CDU and the CSU are working for. Germany is a tolerant and cosmopolitan country. But no one should mistake tolerance and openness to the world for weakness. Our democracy is capable of defending itself; our state under the rule of law is strong. Combating extremists and terrorists and defending our freedom and open society are two sides of the same coin. The CDU and the CSU firmly oppose every form of extremism and every form of violence and terror – regardless of whether left-wing extremists, right-wing extremists or Islamists prepared to use violence are involved. We are blind in neither eye.
In Germany the state is religiously neutral. However, in Germany there is a positive cooperative relationship between the state and religious communities and religious public-law corporations. In the case of prayer rooms in public institutions, it is decisive that they are open to members of all religious denominations.
School curricula must in every case conform to the constitution: this applies both to religious education and to the alternative subjects (religious studies, ethics, philosophy, etc.).
Our country today is more democratic, more open, more modern and freer than ever before. Our cultural life is unique. So too is our civil society, with its many different clubs, associations and initiatives, the welfare organisations, churches and religious communities in which millions of people are engaged as volunteers. We are proud of this diverse culture.
Security is a central need for people. It is the task of the state to provide this security. Social security must be guaranteed. Our welfare state is an achievement. It provides social balance, strengthens our economy and gives people the security they need in order to determine their own lives. Citizens should be able to trust that, after decades of work, they will receive an adequate income in old age and be cared for as well as possible in the event of illness and long-term care needs. And in the event of job loss they expect good protection. A welfare state that supports its citizens increases security and promotes social progress and change. We will make the welfare state even better so that everyone can rely on it in future.
We need a strong state under the rule of law with the capacity to act, in which dangers are recognised, crime is fought and offenders are prosecuted. Only the rich can afford a weak state and buy private security services. Bodily harm, vandalism, theft and above all burglaries impair people’s security and their sense of security. We want our authorities to tackle so-called everyday crime consistently – through more prevention and effective prosecution. Foreign nationals who commit serious offences should be deported without delay after serving their sentence. We have already made it easier to deport foreign nationals who have committed offences.
Germany has a proven constitutional law on religion, which is open to new religious communities if they meet the criteria for it.
The democratic state under the rule of law applies to all citizens. It also has to provide for their security and to punish breaches of law and order consistently, without regard to the person.
The separation of state and church, or religions, is fundamental in this country. It must remain so, both in everyday life and in state schools. That is why DIE LINKE also advocates a subject of ethics that is compulsory for all pupils instead of religious education, so that pupils become familiar with all the major faiths and their customs.
We want a strong state under the rule of law that protects against crime and terror and is committed to civil rights. Religious and political fanatics challenge our state under the rule of law. We oppose them with determination, effectiveness and respect for the rule of law, through targeted prevention of danger rather than blanket suspicion and mass surveillance. In this, one thing is clear to us: freedom cannot be had without security – and the same is true the other way round. Proportionality must be preserved in all state action.
German law provides for a “benevolent neutrality” towards religious communities. Religious communities may therefore cooperate with the state (above all with regard to denominational religious education, theology at state universities, and pastoral care in the Bundeswehr, in hospitals and in prisons). We support this, because we regard religious and philosophical communities as important forces of civil society.
We believe that Germany is a diverse country to which all those who live in it belong, regardless of their origin, their appearance or their religious affiliation. We want all religious communities to be able to exercise the same rights within the framework of our legal order and the order of values of the Basic Law. But one thing is clear to us: the monopoly on the use of force lies with the state, so that religious criminal law may under no circumstances and by no one be applied here.
As already set out under the first question, in many cases there is today a lack even of awareness of the need for a guiding culture. The powerful politics of “recognition”, for example, knows an “inverted discrimination” which so-called minorities are entitled to claim. In practice this means privileges, which in turn leads to political inequality. Special rights, and all the more so parallel legal spheres, lay the axe to the state under the rule of law, for: “The civic state and the idea of the republic, however, rest on the equality of rights…” (Egon Flaig). The AfD tirelessly points out this danger to the republic as well.
The state under the rule of law is already in a crisis, which is manifested particularly in the unlawful opening of the borders by the Federal Chancellor. Whoever unlawfully opens state borders to everyone and in a theoretically unlimited manner is once again offending against the core substance of any statehood. Neither internal nor external security, and certainly not social peace and social cohesion, can be guaranteed in this way. As is well known, one can have either a welfare state or open borders, but not both at the same time. For this reason alone the opening of the borders by the Chancellor is unlawful, for the Basic Law contains the welfare-state principle. That the public was also deliberately deceived about the truth in this matter only became known belatedly, through a book (“Die Getrtiebenen”).
The Basic Law does not know the term freedom of religion; it refers only to freedom of faith, of creed and of conscience. All three of these freedoms are private in nature and can therefore not establish any claims or rights against other persons. Least of all can divine law be the basis of a general statute in a republic. The separation of the first and second world (this world and the next), of secular and religious power, is fundamental to any real republic.
The state under the rule of law has the duty to guarantee freedom and internal security as well as possible and to minimise security risks. Whatever actually serves internal security and remains within the framework of our constitution must also be done. But this framework is at the same time the limit on the manner of its action and on the means employed. The central essence of the state under the rule of law is its neutrality. With regard to religious communities too, the state must observe its duty of neutrality and guarantee the free exercise of religion in accordance with the constitution.
This also means that as long as Christian religious education is provided, religious education must also be possible for other religious communities recognised under the Basic Law. Beyond guaranteeing freedom of religion and the equal treatment of religions, we Free Democrats are committed to the greatest possible separation of church and state.