Many have criticized religion as the reason for violence and writers from Richard Dawkins to Sam Harris cautions us on the dangers of religion.

And yet one could point to pivotal moments in history where religion has been the only thing that could have moved a seemingly unmovable mountain, allowing people to find hope, faith and voice in the face of daunting realities.

One example of this is the peaceful democratic revolution in East Germany. Although some argue that external economic, political or military factors led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a closer look at the stories and convictions of those who took to the streets in the fall on 1989 shows that religion was a defining player in the revolution.

Stephen Kinzer of the New York Times reflects five years later, “If the peaceful revolution against East German Communism had a birthplace, it may well have been the Nikolai Church in Leipzig.”

It was there that the Rev. Christian Führer, began to hold peace prayers.

The small meetings that sometimes only had a dozen or so participants was the one place in Leipzig where, in the words of the sign that still stand in front of in front of Nikolai Church, “All are welcome.” The peace prayers eventually became a space for people to openly voice their concerns, and define their common hope for peace and prosperity. Rev. Führer even facilitated discussions during these peace prayers with reformists and the public

These meetings defied the long established agreement between the Lutheran church and the East German Communist government. When asked why he dared to do so, Rev. Führer quotes his hero, Detrich Bonhoeffer, “The Church is only the church when it is there for others.”

As the government began to restrict the Church’s activities, at one point even barricading its doors, the movement suddenly skyrocketed. Rev. Führer described the movement: “It’s small as a mustard seed, but it grows and it grows and no one can stop it.”

Something at those prayers for peace stirred the hearts of the people. The numbers attending the Monday Night prayers grew to 600, then to thousands. The tipping point was October 9, 1989, when over 70,000 protestors, joined the peace prayer participants in a peaceful march around Leipzig square.

While mostly peaceful, it was not without danger. Police and soldiers lined the square. Leanna, a member of the group Women for Peace and organizer of the prayer meetings, told BBC, “The over-riding feeling on the day was fear,”

Yet, there is something in the folds of faith that allows us to put even our most precious items: our families, our livelihood, our lives on the line to fight for a bigger vision. It seems something gave these protestors the courage to face guns and shields with their pickets, candles and prayers.

Rev. Führer joked, “At that time they said, ‘You don’t really think that your candles and prayers can change something?’ But ironically enough, reports on the October 9th march recorded East German officials saying they were ready for anything except candles and prayers.

However, four years after the reunification of Germany, Rev. Führer lamented that internal divisions between Germans still stand tall, and the driving vision for peace and co-prosperity has waned. “Brutal competition and the lust for money are destroying our sense of community. Almost everyone feels a level of fear or depression or insecurity.”

Rev. Führer’s words leave an uncomfortable echo and point to the danger of losing or never fully developing a common vision for a better future. In Germany, it seems what was once a hopeful movement for peace and prosperity has failed to carry over beyond a change in immediate political structures. We might imagine that Monday Night Meetings need to continue even, or especially, into the present.

Writing about the possibilities for Korean reunification, Dr. Moon talks about the transformative force of people power, but similarly cautions, “Without a vision, a mass movement can quickly become an angry mob. Positive change comes about through a guiding idea that is rooted in truth and hence has the moral authority that resonates with the innate conscience of people.”

With discipline, caution and a common vision, religions and their roots in transcendent, universal principles and shared values can be the moral guiding hand for positive social change.

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People who were old enough will recall powerful images of November 9, 1989, the collapse of the Berlin Wall. East and West Germans scaling the wall to embrace on ramparts that used to be laced with barbed wire. The concrete wall being torn down by any and all means: cranes, hammers and bare hands.

What is often overlooked, is the sudden groundswell of public protests in the autumn of 1989. . This movement was “Die Wende” (the turning point) that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and eventual German unification.

Until that point, despite the opening of the USSR through Perestroika and Glasnost, and the thawing of Cold War relations, many European neighbors expressed strong reservations about German unification. Among them were British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Francois Mitterrand who warned against the dangers of a rising German power.

It was the “Friedliche Revolution” or Peaceful Revolution that tipped the scales. And at the heart of this revolution was the Protestant church.

Protestant Church Sparks an Awakening

Until that point, the voice of civil society in East Germany was closely controlled. Even the sparse dissent coming from academia and intellectual circles was scattered. Furthermore, writers had to self-censor to survive the close surveillance of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). What the SED did not anticipate, was the voice of the Protestant Church.

“They radiated an aura of reformist sincerity that was familiar to those who had seen American pastors active in the civil rights struggle.” In East Germany, the Protestant Church and the German Democratic Republic had come to an understanding that enabled the church to survive in the godless regime. The church would remain a-political and thus autonomous. Theological Seminaries in Germany were the only places where SED membership was not required.  Beginning in the early 80s, this agreement of separation between church and state began to deteriorate as younger church leaders began engaging in the civic square. “They radiated an aura of reformist sincerity that was familiar to those who had seen American pastors active in the civil rights struggle.” [1]

The Monday protests began in the Church of St. Nicholas in Leipzig. It amassed tens of thousands of East Germans in peaceful protests. (German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv))

In 1983, Führer began Prayers for Peace (Friedensgebet ) at his church.  Every Monday at 5pm, the church opened its door to anyone who wanted to pray for peace. The prayer service began with reading the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the peacemakers….”

The prayer service became a safe and open place for East Germans to discuss their concerns. It was also a space for the Church to interface morals and ethics with social issues such as the rising threat of nuclear war and the stagnation of the East German regime.

Prayers for Peace Grows into Peaceful Protests

In the fall of 1989, the Monday prayers for peace burgeoned from hundreds to thousands. Führer recalls, “They (the people) brought the masses.”  On October 9^th, days after the German Democratic Republic government had hosted its 40^th anniversary celebration, 70,000 thousand gathered.

“The Church is only the church when it is there for others.” ~Dietrich Bonheoffer It wasn’t certain that the protests would be peaceful. Just a few weeks prior, protesters were beaten by the Statzi . Despite threats, pastors and speakers urged the protestors to remain peaceful. As the people flooded into Leipzig square, surrounding churches opened their doors to accommodate the overflow.

The only weapons wielded by the peaceful crowd were candles and banners saying, “Wir sind das volk” (We are the people).  That night, there was no violence. News spread through East and West Germany of the peaceful protests, and inspired others to follow suit.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

The protests, combined with the massive exodus of East Germans fleeing to West Germany through Hungary, forced General Secretary Erich Honecker to resign. By November 7^th, the entire East German government resigned. On November 9^th, the Berlin Wall came down.

By March 1990, merely months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany held its first free multi-party elections, and seven months later, in October, Germany was officially reunited.

Economic integration would take even longer; and according to Chancellor Angela Merkel, the “inner unification” of the two disparate cultures still continues.

Despite trepidations, pastors and protest leaders urged for a peaceful and united front. (Source: German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) )

Nevertheless, the victory of the Peaceful Revolution was that “non-violent protests could fell a system of dictatorship most Westerners had believed unshakable.” (Civil Disobedience) Unlike the violent revolution in Romania, which left thousands dead, and executed the former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife, the peaceful protests that swept through East Germany enabled a peaceful and swift transformation of the political system.

The Peaceful Revolution was an awakening of East Germans to the ideal of peace. It was spearheaded by the Protestant ministers who were inspired by the example of other religious leaders like the pastors of the American Civil Rights and Dietrich Bonheoffer, who stepped out of the religious box and into the public square to engage the ethics of their faith in the social and political issues of the day.

Today Leipzig is remembered as the hero city, “heldenstadt”.

[1] Roberts, A., & Garton-Ash, T. (2009). Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present . Oxford University Press.

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