Amberg (dpa / lby) – In view of the protests by climate protectionists, the evangelical state bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm calls for the debate to be more objective. The focus of the discussion should not be the form of protest used by the activists, but rather its content. The urgency with which young people pointed out climate change in their protests must be heard, he said on Monday at the state synod of the Evangelical Church in Amberg. The forms of protest are certainly controversial, but everything must be done to turn things around and stop the destruction of creation. “We must leave the following generation a world in which our grandchildren and great-grandchildren can live at least as well as we can now.”
Bedford-Strohm commented on the decision recently taken by the synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) in Magdeburg on a speed limit for church car journeys of 100 and 80 kilometers per hour on motorways and country roads: “I drove to Amberg in an electric car and we drove between 100 and 110.” Synod President Annekathrin Preidel said that this is about self-commitment. “Anyone who treats creation responsibly will not speed down the autobahn at 200 km/h.” This does not require any rigorous specifications. It is best to use public transport anyway, but that is not always possible, said Preidel.