Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8472 Plough Quarterly • Autumn 2016 integrate refugees, supply their immediate needs, and deal with any problems that arise. Local churches generally play a significant role in these forums, possessing as they often do a strong anchoring in community and regional affairs. The major churches’ public statements since summer 2015 have been insistent in urging Germans to embrace a culture of mercy, humanity, acceptance, open-mindedness, and diversity. In fact, by autumn 2015 the churches’ official appeals had come to emphasize a lan- guage of human rights similar to that of the No Border movement, which demands freedom of movement as a fundamental human right and ultimately regards national states and borders as unjustified encroachments on this freedom. If anything, the Catholic Church has encouraged openness to migrants even more strongly than the (socially more liberal) Protestant churches. Perhaps Catholic theol- ogy’s essentially critical view of nationhood plays a role here, as does its emphasis on the natural-law basis for human rights. Pope Francis’s emphatic advocacy has only cemented this tendency. What unites both Catholic and Protestant churches, however, is a resolute rejection of the right-wing populists and their penchant for invoking Christianity as a touchstone of German cultural identity. For instance, church leaders have denounced the populist slogan calling on Germans to defend the “Christian Occident.” This consensus has been shared by evangelicals, a group that, despite enjoying a certain influence thanks to numbers and commitment levels, is often marginalized in a landscape dominated by the national Protestant church. While evangelicals have highlighted issues such as the persecution of Christians by Muslims or attacks on Christians housed in refugee homes, they have also taken on board the need for structural changes to German churches and congregations in order to reflect a more diverse society. In the public square, what has lent special The leaders of Germany’s Catholic and Protestant churches welcome the first trainloads of refugees in Munich (September 2015). Photograph: Johannes Minkus/ EPD