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Church and AfD: A disastrous relationship in Saxony-Anhalt exposed!
On October 31, 2025, the article highlights the challenges of the Protestant Church in Saxony-Anhalt and the influence of the AfD on church members.
Church and AfD: A disastrous relationship in Saxony-Anhalt exposed!
In the rural churches of Saxony-Anhalt there is an annoying contrast to the discursive approaches in West German synod halls, where progressive language predominates. Faith communities that always claim to speak for their believers often seem to speak only about them while ignoring the voices of the voters within their ranks. The proportion of AfD voters in Saxony-Anhalt is around 40%, and this is also reflected in church membership, where an estimated third to two-fifths tend to join fan clubs for this party. These are alarming figures that should also concern the church as an institution, because the Protestant regional church in the eastern federal states is fighting hard against the alienation of its members. [My church newspaper]
What does this mean for local church work? The regional church, which only consists of around 13% of the remaining population - many of them over 60 years old and without a university degree - should take a close look at the challenge it has to overcome. The feeling of abandonment eats away at the connection to the church and local identity. In many rural regions, the church is increasingly seen as an empty cultural form, much more than as a living place of faith. In this context, those responsible within the EKD call for close cooperation and describe cooperation with the AfD as “unthinkable” without considering the resulting gap with the electorate. [My church newspaper]
The “Bubble Crasher” project
Part of the goal of this project is for participants to make a difference and feel heard even in the bubbles they visit. The desire to place one's own perspective alongside the general public is crucial to halting the exodus of religious communities and to better understand the will of voters. Here the church reports that there is a constant work order: collecting, evaluating and publishing data in order to understand the reality in the communities and react to it strategically. [My church newspaper]
The challenge lies not only in analyzing voter behavior, but also in the ability of the church as an institution to reform itself. It is time for a grassroots approach and a better understanding of believers to be part of the way the church space acts and feels. This is the only way to achieve the balancing act between awareness of tradition and modern requests and to create new trust.