Wer bezahlt den evangelischen Kirchentag 2027 in Düsseldorf? Wie wir 5,8 Millionen Euro städtischer Steuergelder zu retten versuchten und was wir dabei erlebten

In the organizer's words:

Picture lecture and discussion with Ricarda Hinz
Every year, a Catholic or Protestant "Kirchentag" is held alternately in Germany. The federal budget reserves 500,000 euros a year for this. Each Kirchentag also receives many millions of euros from the state and local authority in which it is held. The DEKT (German Protestant Church Congress) will take place in Düsseldorf in 2027. NRW is giving 7.5 million euros for the 4-day festival of faith without debate, and even the highly indebted city of Düsseldorf is not letting itself down: in June 2022, the city council waved through 5.8 million euros - costs that the predominantly non-denominational citizens of the city are expected to spend on a missionary festival and which the highly indebted city urgently needs in many places. Currently, 12% of Protestant church members still live in the city. And the trend is falling sharply. By the planned Kirchentag 2027, their number could even be in single figures. The lecture raises the question of why the multi-billion-euro Protestant church does not pay for its own church congress.

Ricarda Hinz is co-founder of Düsseldorfer Aufklärungsdienst e.V. and lives in Düsseldorf as a documentary filmmaker. She is on the advisory board of the Giordano Bruno Foundation and a member of the board of the Humanist Press Service - hpd.de.

Moderation: Eva Creutz
Moderation LiveChat and online discussion: Katrin Wiesemann
Livestream: Jocchen Schreiber
Sound: Roland Kuprat

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HumanistSalon: Since 2013, the DA! has regularly organized the Humanist Salon on the first Wednesday of the month. This is where urban society discusses philosophical, scientific, religious-critical and ethical issues. 50 to 100 visitors regularly gather in the Salon des Amateurs (bar in the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf) and online, as the salons have generally been broadcast live online since 2022. Questions submitted online by the audience are also integrated into the discussion following the lecture.

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