5.1 Ambivalence of religious groups and churches

The Christian churches and other major religions have long seen it as their task to reflect ethically on social developments and to offer orienting standards for them. The dialogue with the sciences and other religions has recently been intensified, e.g. with the last two encyclicals Laudato si' and Fratelli tutti. Dialogue not only promotes cooperation between people of different religions and world views, but also prevents conflicts. For the great religions often claim to provide universal answers or to proclaim truths. Just like cultural traditions, religions and religious convictions are in danger of being appropriated by populism – especially if they absolutise individual positions and define monopolistic claims instead of seeing themselves as a movement of search and a solidary learning community.

Churches and religious communities can, as worldwide communities and global actors, which are at the same time anchored in very different cultures, be advocates for cross-border justice, universal human rights and the protection of the natural foundations of life. At the same time, they and especially the Catholic Church should honestly admit to themselves that for a long time it was difficult for them to make these goals their own and that not infrequently they still violate these ideals today, mostly in contradiction to their own teachings and their own moral standards.

Here, a controversial topic is the still reserved attitude towards human rights, at least as soon as they are also demanded for the internal religious spheres and structures. Many religions claim spaces in which certain human rights only apply to a limited extent, for example, when they deny women rights that are considered universally valid in civil society, at least in their internal sphere.

The ambivalence of the Catholic Church and other faith communities is particularly evident in population policy, which is an increasingly urgent challenge with regard to sustainable development. Church teachings rightly point out that population growth is not the primary cause of global poverty and the threat to livelihoods, especially against the background of the highly unequal distribution of wealth and resource consumption worldwide. The industrialised nations, with their high per capita consumption, are therefore in the worst possible position to give advice, not infrequently combined with financial pressur, to the poorer countries of this world in this regard. Nevertheless, as already mentioned (cf. chapter 3.2), a responsible population policy is indispensable in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda with the SDGs. Considering that more than 25% of pregnancies worldwide are unwanted⁶⁵ and that, according to UN forecasts, the world population will grow by a further 1.9 billion people between 2020 and 2050 (despite falling fertility rates in many places), including 1.2 billion in Africa⁶⁶, it is clear that there is an urgent need for action.

The Catholic Church in particular has a responsibility to provide guidance for such a responsible population policy. The protection of life, the rejection of coercive state measures and the reproductive self-determination of families are central standards for this. Pope Paul VI already pointed out that state authorities, with their not unnecessary measures for family planning, must not touch the "legitimate freedom of married couples" (Populorum progressio 37), since the "ultimate decision on the number of children lies with both parents" (ibid.). In order to guarantee this freedom (of conscience), however, one must not fundamentally condemn responsible forms of family planning that are also realistic and effective for the people concerned. For then one would not take seriously the reality of life for many people, not only in countries where – often due to poverty – population growth is very high. When church aid organisations and local congregations, who know the plight of the people on the ground, campaign for adequate access to contraceptives, they deserve respect and must not be defamed within the church.⁶⁷

In order to empower both parents equally to make responsible decisions of conscience, it is indispensable to provide women worldwide with better access to education and to improve their employment opportunities. Then they can develop independent income opportunities and thus equal opportunities for self-determination and co-determination. These contemporary opportunities for co-determination must of course not only be demanded in state and society, but must also be consistently developed within the church, so that the "fraternal interaction" finally becomes a sustainable "togetherness of siblings".

An important source of strength and motivation for personal and structural change can be found in the rich spiritual and moral traditions of Christianity and other religions. However, it should not be overlooked that spirituality can also be ambivalent: It has a power that can be consciously manipulated or unintentionally misunderstood; it can promote escapism, lead to a misinterpretation of material prosperity (as a supposed "divine gift") or of the creation mandate ("subdue the earth" instead of managing and caring for it in a fiduciary capacity). Similar to cultural traditions, spirituality also needs to be questioned and rediscovered again and again in order to unfold its life-serving potential – the following thoughts are intended to provide some brief impulses in this regard.

A spirituality that is conducive to transformation begins with an attitude of sensitive listening. Only those who listen to the cry of the earth and the poor with open ears and an open heart and allow themselves to be moved by it can bring people and the earth into relationship with each other. In this way it is possible to start a real dialogue and to focus on the common good of all. With this change of perspective, spirituality helps to break with egocentric thought patterns. People no longer look in search of what they could still need, but gratefully look at what they already have, and at the same time seek to understand what their neighbours still lack.

This searching spirituality also leads out "onto the streets". It is a collective process that pushes people to where the burning problems of the time and at the same time the struggle for change are taking place: It is present at the demonstrations in the Rhenish lignite mining area, at climate strikes and in the church asylum and, despite all the clarity of the positions, it should always be a listening and searching one that also specifically perceives the quiet and marginalised voices and makes them audible to others. In this way, there is the potential to complement the dialogue of religions, which has become so important in recent years, with dialogue through religions, which can significantly promote transformation.

In this way, spirituality is always open to new insights and related concrete calls to action. It is open to the wealth of experience of other cultures – of the migrants who come to us or of the indigenous communities whose cosmovisions and ideas of the good life can help us to integrate knowledge of ecological connections even better into our own world view and our actual actions.

Spirituality is always related to transcendence. Believers of all religions trust that in this attitude of searching openness, God's voice becomes audible in their own hearts. It is precisely this experience that allows us to feel the complex interconnections of our world not as personally overwhelming, but as a deeply interconnected unity in which every life is willed and in a good place. Finally, a spirituality that trusts in God's goodness understands conversion not as a punishment but as a given opportunity. Far too often, the objective analysis of interrelationships is interpreted as moral condemnation, conversion as failure and material restrictions as punishment. By contrast, a properly understood spirituality is about creating healing relationships in the coexistence of people and with creation.