The German Church Secession The German Church crisis has .
now reached the point of open secession, and if the German censor= ship had hot become a by-word by now it would be incredible that the German peoide should still be dependent for all news of a fundamental schism in the Church- to which more than half the Christians of Germany belong on such foreign papers as they can acquire_ and are able to read.. The declarations read at Dahlem and elsewhere on Sunday call on all pastors and elders in the German Evangelical . Church to ignore all instructions from the Church Government of Reichsbishop Muller and follow those of the Confessional Synod formed by the body hitherto known as the Notbund, or Pastors' Emergency League. As though : to demonstrate his authority in matters spiritual, Dr. Koch, the President of the Confessional Synod, ordained at Dahlem several candidates for the Ministry. Simultaneously, as it happened, Herr Hitler was discussing with his party deputy, Herr Hess, and Dr. Giirtner, the Minister of Justice, the situation as it had developed up till then. As a result the oath of allegiance which Dr. Muller was to take on Tuesday has not yet been taken, and the future both of the Reichsbishop and his legal adViser, Dr. Jaeger, remains uncertain. It is to he noted that the Confessional Synod is in no way challenging the authority of the State in temporal matters, but merely opposing itself to the ecclesiastical autocracy of the Reichsbishop.
