The Confessional Pastors' Oath The strength and skill of the
German Protestants' struggle against the all-embracing demands of National Socialism are once again illustrated by the concession they have wrung from the authorities appointed by the State to control Church affairs. The Evangelical pastors had protested against the demand that by May 31st they should take an oath, adminis- tered by the highest ecclesiastical authority in each district, of loyalty to the Fiihrer and Chancellor. They claimed that, while they were willing to swear loyalty, a political oath could not be administered by a Church authority. Their claim has now been recognised and they will be allowed to take the oath in the presence of a representative of the State, and with the reservation that it binds them to nothing inconsistent with their ordination vows. It is impossible not to admire the ability with which the pastors conduct their struggle. The concession gained may seem a small one. But in fact it allows them, while demonstrating their political loyalty, to maintain the principles of the separation of Church and State and the supremacy of spiritual to temporal obligations on which their whole struggle depends ; and to escape pledging themselves to those whom the State has set over the Church. But Dr. Niemoller is still a prisoner.
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