Paganism and Roman settlement (1000 BC–300 AD) dedicated to
Lenus, rebuilt in
Pommern, Rhineland-Palatinate|207x207px Ancient
Germanic paganism was a
polytheistic religion practised in
prehistoric Germany and
Scandinavia, as well as
Roman territories of
Germania by the first century AD. It had a
pantheon of deities that included
Donar/Thunar,
Wuotan/Wodan,
Frouwa/Frua,
Balder/Phol/Baldag, and others shared with
northern Germanic paganism.
Celtic paganism and later
Gallo-Roman syntheses were instead practised in western and southern parts of modern Germany, while
Slavic paganism was practised in the east.
Late Roman and Carolingian eras (300–1000) In the territories of Germany under the control of the
Roman Empire (the provinces
Raetia,
Germania Superior and
Germania Inferior), early Christianity was introduced and began to flourish after the fourth century. Although pagan
Roman temples existed beforehand, Christian religious structures were soon built, such as the
Aula Palatina in
Trier (then the capital of the
Roman province Gallia Belgica), completed during the reign of
Roman emperor Constantine I (306–337). During the
Carolingian period, Christianity spread throughout Germany, particularly during the reign of
Charlemagne (r. 768–814). Religious structures built during the Carolingian period include the
Palatine Chapel, Aachen, a surviving component of the
Palace of Aachen built by architect
Odo of Metz during the reign of Charlemagne.
Pre-Reformation period (1000–1517) Territories of the present-day Germany, like much of Europe, were entirely
Roman Catholic with religious break-offs being suppressed by both the
Papacy and the
Holy Roman Emperor.
Reformation, Counter-Reformation and the Thirty Years' War (1517–1648) (1483–1546) was responsible for the
Protestant Reformation.|190x190px Roman Catholicism was the sole established religion in the Holy Roman Empire until the advent of the
Protestant Reformation changed this drastically. In the early 16th century abuses (such as selling
indulgences in the Catholic Church) occasioned much discontent, and a general desire for reform emerged. In 1517 the Reformation began with the publication of
Martin Luther's
95 Theses detailing 95 assertions which Luther believed showed corruption and misguidance within the Catholic Church. The Reformation demonstrated Luther's disagreement both with the way in which the higher clergy used and abused power, and with the very idea of a papacy. In 1521 the
Diet of Worms outlawed Luther, but the Reformation spread rapidly. Luther translated the Bible from Latin to German, establishing the basis of the modern German language. A curious fact is that Luther spoke a dialect which had minor importance in the German language of that time. After the publication of his Bible translation, his dialect evolved into what is now standard modern German. With the
protestation of the Lutheran princes at the
Imperial Diet of
Speyer (1529) and rejection of the Lutheran "Augsburg Confession" at the
Diet of Augsburg (1530), a separate Lutheran church emerged. in 1618 From 1545 the
Counter-Reformation began in Germany. Much of its impetus came from the newly founded (in 1540)
Jesuit order. It restored Catholicism to many areas, including Bavaria. The Holy Roman Empire became religiously diverse; for the most part, the states of northern and central Germany became Protestant (chiefly Lutheran, but also Calvinist/Reformed) while the states of southern Germany and the
Rhineland largely remained Catholic. In 1547 the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V defeated the
Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Protestant rulers. The
Peace of Augsburg in 1555 brought recognition of the Lutheran faith. But the treaty also stipulated that the religion of a state was to be that of its ruler (
cuius regio, eius religio). In 1608/1609 the
Protestant Union and the
Catholic League formed. The
Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, played out primarily in German lands, but involved most of the countries of Europe. It was to some extent a religious conflict, involving both Protestants and Catholics.
Post-Thirty Years' War period and Protestant church unions (1648–1871) with
Martin Luther and
John Calvin commemorating the 1821 union of Lutheran and Reformed churches in the
Grand Duchy of Baden Two main developments reshaped religion in Germany after 1814. There was a movement to unite the larger Lutheran and the smaller Reformed Protestant churches. The churches themselves brought this about in Baden, Nassau, and Bavaria. However, in Prussia King
Frederick William III was determined to handle unification entirely on his own terms, without consultation. His goal was to
unify the Protestant churches, and to impose a single standardised liturgy, organisation, and even architecture. The long-term goal was to have fully centralised royal control of all the Protestant churches. In a series of proclamations over several decades the
Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union was formed, bringing together the more numerous Lutherans and the less numerous Reformed Protestants. The government of Prussia now had full control over church affairs, with the king himself recognised as the leading bishop. Opposition to unification came from the "
Old Lutherans" in Prussia and Silesia who followed the theological and liturgical forms they had followed since the days of Luther. The government attempted to crack down on them, so they went underground. Tens of thousands migrated
to South Australia and the United States, where they formed the
Missouri Synod. Finally, in 1845 the new king,
Frederick William IV, offered a general amnesty and allowed the Old Lutherans to form separate
free church associations with only nominal government control. From the religious point of view of the typical Catholic or Protestant, major changes were underway in terms of a much more personalised religiosity that focused on the individual more than the church or the ceremony. Opposing the rationalism of the late 18th century, there was a new emphasis on the psychology and feeling of the individual, especially in terms of contemplating sinfulness, redemption, and the mysteries and the revelations of Christianity.
Pietistic revivals were common among Protestants. Among Catholics there was a sharp increase in popular pilgrimages. In 1844 alone, half a million pilgrims made a pilgrimage to the city of Trier in the Rhineland to view the
Seamless robe of Jesus, said to be the robe that Jesus wore on the way to his crucifixion. Catholic bishops in Germany had historically been largely independent of Rome, but now the Vatican exerted increasing control, a new "
ultramontanism" of Catholics highly loyal to Rome. A sharp controversy broke out in 1837–38 in the largely Catholic Rhineland over the religious education of children of mixed marriages, where the mother was Catholic and the father Protestant. The government passed laws to require that these children always be raised as Protestants, contrary to Napoleonic law that had previously prevailed and allowed the parents to make the decision. It put the Catholic Archbishop under house arrest. In 1840, the new King Frederick William IV sought reconciliation and ended the controversy by agreeing to most of the Catholic demands.
Kulturkampf and the German Empire (1871–1918) Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck would not tolerate any base of power outside Germany and launched the
Kulturkampf ("culture war") against the power of the pope and the Catholic Church. This gained strong support from German liberals, who saw the Catholic Church as the bastion of reaction and their greatest enemy. The Catholic element, in turn, saw the
National Liberals as its worst enemy and formed the
Center Party. Catholics, although about a third of the national population, were seldom allowed to hold major positions in the Imperial government or the Prussian government. After 1871, there was a systematic purge of Catholics; in the powerful interior ministry, which handled all police affairs, the only Catholic was a messenger boy. The German Empire passed the
Pulpit Law (1871), which made it a crime for any cleric to discuss political issues, and the
Jesuits Law (1872) drove this order out of German territory. In 1873, Bismarck, as prime minister of Prussia, launched further anti-church measures: Public schools and the registration of births, marriages and deaths were transferred from religious authorities (including the Protestant state church) to the state. Germans could now change their religious affiliation through the civil registry. Other German states followed through with similar measures. Nearly all Catholic bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws, and were defiant facing the increasingly heavy penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government. Historian Anthony Steinhoff reports the casualty totals: As of 1878, only three of eight Prussian dioceses still had bishops, some 1,125 of 4,600 parishes were vacant, and nearly 1,800 priests ended up in jail or in exile. ...Finally, between 1872 and 1878, numerous Catholic newspapers were confiscated, Catholic associations and assemblies were dissolved, and Catholic civil servants were dismissed merely on the pretence of having Ultramontane sympathies. The British ambassador
Odo Russell reported to London in October 1872 how Bismarck's plans were backfiring by strengthening the
ultramontane (pro-papal) position inside German Catholicism: The German Bishops who were politically powerless in Germany and theologically in opposition to the Pope in Rome – have now become powerful political leaders in Germany and enthusiastic defenders of the now infallible Faith of Rome, united, disciplined, and thirsting for martyrdom, thanks to Bismarck's uncalled for antiliberal declaration of War on the freedom they had hitherto peacefully enjoyed. Bismarck underestimated the resolve of the Catholic Church and did not foresee the extremes that this struggle would entail. The Catholic Church denounced the harsh new laws as anti-catholic and mustered the support of its rank and file voters across Germany. In the following elections, the Center Party won a quarter of the seats in the Imperial Diet. The conflict ended after 1879 for two reasons: Pope Pius IX died in 1878 and was succeeded by the more conciliatory
Pope Leo XIII. Bismarck was also looking for greater parliamentary support after his alliance with the
National Liberals ended over Bismarck's tariff changes and
Social-Democrats emerged as new threat. Following negotiations with Leo XIII, peace was restored: the bishops returned, and the jailed clerics were released. Laws were toned down or taken back (Mitigation Laws 1880–1883 and Peace Laws 1886/87), but the Jesuits Law and the Pulpit Law were not repealed until 1917 and 1953, respectively. The changes concerning schools, civil registry, marriage and religious disaffiliation remain in place today. The Center Party gained strength and became an ally of Bismarck, especially when he attacked socialism.
Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany (1918–1945) The national constitution of 1919 determined that the newly formed
Weimar Republic had no state church, and guaranteed
freedom of religion. Earlier, these freedoms were mentioned only in state constitutions. Protestants and Catholics were equal before the law, and
freethought flourished. The
German Freethinkers League attained about 500,000 members, many of whom were
atheists, before the organisation was shut down by the Nazis in May 1933. When
Adolf Hitler's
Nazi Party seized power in January 1933, it sought to assert state supremacy over all sectors of life. The
Reichskonkordat neutralized the
Catholic Church as a political force. Through the pro-
Nazi Deutsche Christenbewegung ("German Christians movement") and the forced merger of the
German Evangelical Church Confederation into the
Protestant Reich Church, Protestantism was brought under state control. Following a "gradual worsening of relations" in late 1936, the Nazis supported
Kirchenaustrittsbewegung ("movement to leave the church"). Although there was no top-down official directive to revoke church membership, some Nazi Party members started doing so voluntarily and put other members under pressure to follow their example. From 1933,
Jews in Germany were increasingly marginalised, expelled and persecuted for a combination of religious, racial and economic reasons. From 1941 to the fall of
Nazi Germany in 1945, they were actively massacred during
the Holocaust.
Cold War and contemporary period (1945–present) In the aftermath of
World War II, two states emerged in Germany in 1949:
West Germany under the aegis of the
Western Allies, and
East Germany as part of the
Soviet bloc. West Germany, officially known as the Federal Republic of Germany, adopted a constitution in 1949 which protected
freedom of religion and adopted the regulations of the Weimar Constitution; consequently,
secularisation in West Germany proceeded slowly. East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic, had a
communist system which actively tried to reduce the influence of religion in society; the government restricted Christian churches and discriminated against Christians. In the 21st century, eastern German states, including the area of the former eastern capital,
East Berlin, are less religious than western German states. This initiative began after the day had been held as a nationwide holiday in 2017, due to the 500th Reformation anniversary of the Reformation, and also due to the fact that the northern German states have significantly fewer holidays than the southern ones. In 2019 the Catholic News Agency reported that the Catholic church in Germany had a net loss of 216,078 members the previous year. The Protestant churches in Germany had a similar net loss of membership of about 220,000 members. While the total of Catholic and Protestant church membership stands at 45 million or 53%, demographers predict that based on current trends it will fall to 23 million by 2060. In 2020 it was reported that the Catholic church in Germany had a 402,000 loss in membership, the largest ever single year decrease up to that point. The Protestant churches in Germany also had a large drop in membership of about 440,000. Falling membership means empty churches. Consequently between 2000 and 2024 the Catholic church
deconsecrated 611 church buildings while the Protestant church decommissioned around half that number. The buildings are used in various ways for example as housing, sporting facilities or cultural amenities. Some are demolished or in rare cases house another christian church. ==Demographics==