Lessons from the Kulturkampf

July 03, 2012

At MercatorNet, Michael Cook recalls the history of Otto von Bismarck’s effort to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church in Germany, and notes that the effort ultimately failed.

Repression, far from crippling the Church, had united it.

Bismarck imposed a series of repressive laws, and the Church undoubtedly suffered. But in suffering, the faithful gained a sense of solidarity, and eventually forced the policies reversed.

Catholics in Prussia lost everything. A few years later they got it back. And what they had lost in property they gained in solidarity.

 

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Further information:

• A Kulturkampf primer (MercatorNet)