Religion in a (Post-)Secular Society and Liberal Democracy: The Catholic Church's Self-Conception and Logic of Argumentation in Germany

This study deals with public statements on political debates by various Catholic actors in Germany. The aim is to find out, based on the arguments put forward, how the Catholic Church sees its own role in a liberal democracy. On the basis of this self-image, various authors examine whether religious communities are a legitimate part of a democratic civil society. In return for various recognition benefits from the state, religious communities must recognise the constitution as the basic legal order, the right of other religious communities to exist and the primacy of the state in conflict resolution (Stepan 2001, Young 2007, Hidalgo 2024). The relationship of the Catholic Church to democracy and liberal civil society is controversial both in the social science literature and within the Catholic Church itself. Some see the Catholic Church as a political opponent of liberalisation (Hertzke 2016) and as a social veto player that seeks to prevent liberal changes through active and passive influence on politics (Schacht 2020). Its hierarchical structure would not promote democratic values but would even suppress them (Uslaner 2002). Others see an opening to the modern world and a pluralistic Catholicism open to dialogue and conflict (von Beyme 2015). Within the Church there are warnings that the Church should not allow itself to be misunderstood as a useful actor in civil society (Meyer 2003), but at the same time the presumed affinity of civil society with religion is also seen as an opportunity to replace the image of the Catholic Church as a threat to democracy with a positive one (Kreutzer 2017). In order to examine the self-image of the Catholic Church in a democratic public sphere, public statements of Catholic organisations will be analysed by means of the content-structuring qualitative content analysis according to Kuckartz. The German Bishops' Conference, the Central Committee of German Catholics and Caritas were selected as Catholic organisations with political influence at the national level. It is interesting to see to what extent the individual organisations hold the same positions and argue in a similar way. In selecting the topics on which to analyse the political statements, the choice fell on the debates on refugee and migration laws, the opening of marriage to homosexual couples and the abolition of Section 219a of the German Penal Code, which includes a ban on the advertising of abortions. These issues are topical. Family and migration are core issues on the political agenda of the Catholic Church. The importance of these issues for the Church means that the various Catholic organisations have expressed their views on the relevant changes to the law, and data is therefore available. Moreover, these issues have not only been widely discussed within the Church but have also attracted and continue to attract much attention in civil society. How does the Church see its role within liberal democracy? Does it see itself as a moral authority superior to the state, or as one of many voices in civil society’s discourse?