Especially difficult for and depend the drugs i see many of the younger promising janitors who are now making names for themselves or over there a. Song like get along the way some might follow some with continue. Their experience of freedom in a sense is like that fenians day you can visit but your call come back home. My name is your fish would i work at the end of it. Revolutionary divider of the church great communicator im talking about Martin Luther with clausen from the Lutheran Church in germany the welcome to the interview. Thanks for inviting me. Exactly five hundred years ago luther nailed his ninety five feces to the door of the Castle Church invited him back an innovative way of communicating a message was luther the first blogger. Yes. I mean might not really have used to hammer a nail. But he didnt just use the Printing Press to convey his message. He created publicity and before that there hadnt been a public arena for debating and spreading ideas. You favor a traditional means of communication the book your latest one is called ninety five questions about the reformation it includes unusual questions such as who invented the most popular luther quote. So who was it. You know its a nice quote that goes even if i knew the world were ending tomorrow i would plant an apple tree today and we dont know who came up with it and a lot of luther quotes were made up and that one dates to after the second world war. There was a message of hope and attributing it to luther gave it added impact. And what does your book tell us about its author how does luther matter to you. I love luther is existential religious intensity. The fact that faith was so pivotal to him i think his passion is amazing and. Were on the subject of books what would have become of luther if the Printing Press hadnt been invented just a footnote in history. He most probably would have been put to death during the persecution of heretics in the middle ages and his ideas would have been forgotten again on this one hundred book was his salvation. I thought i think it was not just an instrument for spreading his message it gave him a public platform where he and design ideas could survive. And proved to be so influential this happened five hundred years ago how much of luther is thinking is still relevant. Yeah i think thats a very good question. Weve been examining it for the past decade and especially this year its important for german culture in general after all go to in chile didnt come all that much later. We think about our relationship to them what still moves us whats alien to us today. With Martin Luther there are issues that are still relevant such as the compatibility of faith and freedom the importance of personal faith and how this creates community. And also the question of how you live your faith and how its reflected in your professional ethos. These questions still affect us today. Would you say that luther fought against the catholic fundamentalists against fossilised beliefs and hypocrisy. Protestants like to see it but of course isnt it true no its too polemical the fact is the papal church was very modern and highly innovative in a different sense. If any but you mention luther is opposition to fundamentalism and that is still a very timely issue we are witnessing a lot of religious fundamentalism today luther did fight passionately for what he believed in and he was not tolerant but he was an anti fundamentalist he said religion should always be chosen freely you cant force it on anyone thats come on. He also fought hypocrisy couldnt we do with some of that attitude today think of the climate agreements we sign and never actually implement and. Got it. Yes luthers doctrine of sin is hard for us to grasp today like what exactly constitutes sin. For luther its about lying to yourself. Lying to others and lying about your old tarrier motives he called for sinners to atone for their sins but what he meant was understand yourself make peace with yourself and your fellow human beings and i see that as a universal issue that could put it all. Out there also had his dark side he was anti semitic he didnt think much of womens rights or of why. And in general is he really a role model kind of guides told. Me that we shouldnt have role models we should learn from historical figures like Martin Luther. The woman question is actually quite differentiated is was a marriage of equals which was very unusual for the time that he was deeply conservative and from our perspective the worst thing was his hatred of the jews especially in his later years. I believe ive read that even his contemporaries were appalled by that to some extent thats why he was extreme even though hed heard of jews was widespread extreme things he wouldnt. Go. There preached Freedom Freedom of faith and the individual but he also caused religious division which led to the violent and bloody religious wars in which hundreds of thousands died in the big question is was it worth it. Yes yes yes. I dont know that thats a good question its never worth it yet you have a single human life is worth more than any theological principle and from todays point of view what happened is horrifying but at the same time it was a hard one lesson in the value of religious tolerance for germany and europe and you would think. That these days efforts are being made to heal the rift between protestants and catholics has this year in particular helped rebuild bridges. Yes. Thats been a positive aspect of this five hundred Year Anniversary of the reformation. Not everything worked out so well but on many levels from senior bishops to local communities theres been much cooperation all in a spirit of friendship a shared quest selfawareness and mutual curiosity. That cant easily be put into a legal or diplomatic text but it was a breath of fresh air for the ecumenical movement. What happened what didnt work out so well last time there was some advance where we were too selfinvolved and overestimated our capacity to mobilize the public they werent as well attended as we had hoped but we dont celebrate an anniversary like this one every day five hundred years of the reformation is a milestone and we need to learn how to be visible to society at large. If youre a Lutheran Church wants to reach out to catholics there are still fundamentalist elements in the Catholic Church who believe in the infallibility of the pope which is exactly what luther opposed will you ever reach agreement. I mean i think well have to live with the fact that there are different forms of christianity we should learn to stop the moaning our differences and live with diversity which if you fight. For you personally the luther years meant hundreds of festivities Church Services podium discussions its very stressful what do you gain from the luther year more interest in the church more people joining the church and not just attending Church Conferences but other events to. Talk about. Lets raise Public Awareness of basic issues that we address and which matter. And the media has played an important part in i think in addition to all the events there have been many high quality t. V. Programs radio programs and newspaper articles that show that there is considerable Public Interest in finding out more. Everybody wants to be recruited to the church. But theyre interested in reading and learning about it so we want to be there for them and to answer their questions the president is on vacation in recent years there have been reports about declining Church Membership including germanys Lutheran Church people are leaving in droves as the luther your stop this trend. I know it wasnt designed as a Marketing Campaign aimed at a turnaround but it might have had that effect exactly but i think major cultural events like this have a more subtle but also more sustainable effect that weve already gained a lot if weve awakened interest in religious questions and topics. For us its important not just that people come back to the church but that we the church reach out to people with cultural events and collaborate with museums and concert venues that we go beyond the church walls and i think that has happened you can effect in hockey. I mean you see the media focused on the Church Thanks to the luther year and gave it a lot of coverage ive read that you didnt like one media description of luther as the first example of a socalled angry citizen why not. Now. That was what it was a series in the magazine to speak with and what the media tends to oversimplify. Calling a loser the first angry Citizen Associated him with the wave of right wing populism were seeing in germany and i didnt like that association that luther was passionate he was extremely polemical he could be very hurtful but he was also willing to compromise he had a gentle side he wasnt a right wing populist but what is the main thing you would like germany to take away from the luther year so. I think an awareness of that time in history that has marked germany profoundly missed even in terms of the german language. And the question we should all ask ourselves how do freedom and faith go together. As the Lutheran Church spokesperson on Cultural Affairs what do you think is luthers cultural legacy is it perhaps that the reformation is not just a german but a european idea oh. Yes that such an interesting aspect of the reformation. We put it to luther in germany but this years events show that the reformation has a european context and piece of context that gives us a different understanding of our european neighbors france sweden switzerland and poland with their experience of the reformation with. England henry the eighth in the anglican churches split from the Catholic Church helps us understand britain and breaks it down the hatred of rome then todays hatred of brussels that so many associations they give us fresh insight into todays diverse and very turbulent continent. That leads in neatly to our part of the interview where we ask you to finish three sentences. My take home message from the luther year is an awareness of the freedom of faith as an amateur footballer im envious of full soccer stadiums because. Because of all the people singing in public like in church the places in germany where people sing together churches and stadiums does it people tweet more than they read to me as an author thats. Not you know. Youre an english close in thanks for talking to us. This weeks highlight. Exciting aroma truffle season in northern italy. Extraordinary shape. Dedicated to bringing. Expert flavors berlins master chef. Your romance. My name is along the back. And the mexican conductor. Coming with me and great musicians and friends from all over the world. Russell break in monaco the monte carlo for the money called the strike was mexican for me and others from set on the balcony until the police are a. Forty five minute. What does a football loving country need to reach its goals. Well tell you how germanys soccer made it back to the top. In our web special w dot com. Football made in germany. Freedom of expression. A value that a ways has to be defended and new. All over the world. Of Freedom Freedom of art. A multimedia project about artists and their right to express their views freely. D w dot com to freedom. Hi Everyone Welcome to your max highlights the best of this weeks shows featuring three