# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1861_S311
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The Petition of the Consistories of the Evangelical Reformed Congregations at Leipzig, etc. 311

let it rest, and that in this way, which the motion of Mr. Dr. Hertel likewise recommends, the wishes of the Reformed would be sufficiently met. For that an unfavorable disposition toward the Reformed now prevails, as compared with earlier times, as the honorable rapporteur remarked, could scarcely be supported by examples. A dispensation from the religious oath in individual cases is indeed certainly admissible; for the matter here concerns only a precautionary measure which the Church deems necessary as a general rule in the appointment of teachers, but from which the church government can depart in suitable cases. But if the Ministry regards such a dispensation as admissible and expedient in exceptional cases, one cannot draw from this the conclusion which the deputation draws from it, namely, that the whole legal provision must therefore be abolished; otherwise one would have to abolish all laws from which, in certain cases, dispensation is granted. The state government is therefore not in a position to recommend the motion of the honorable deputation to the high Chamber, nor to hold out the prospect of granting it. This would not be a concession of equal standing among the confessions; it would rather grant to the confessions that are few in number in Saxony a dominance over the far more numerous Evangelical Lutheran Church — over the Church which comprises the greatest number of the state's citizens. For this motion does not concern a concession to the Reformed alone; with what the deputation proposes, we would also have to admit teachers of every other confession into our Evangelical Lutheran schools. The German Catholics have already brought a similar petition before the Chambers, the Israelites have made the same request to the Ministry, and consistently the Catholics likewise could not be refused the same."

In a manner quite similar to that of the royal Commissioner, the honorable Minister of Culture also expressed himself, and we wish, passing over what was said in reply, to bring out at least a few particularly striking passages. After first asserting, in opposition to a remark that had been made, that the disposition toward the Reformed is now just as good and conciliatory as it formerly was, and after adding the wish that the present proceedings might not contribute to disturb the relationship between the Reformed and the Evangelical Lutherans, he added: "The petition of the Reformed consistories that has been submitted here may indeed, from their own standpoint, be entirely justifiable; but they will of course also have to accept that the religious society thus attacked has declared, from its own standpoint, that it does not agree with the views expressed. — The honorable rapporteur, despite all his acuteness and all the delicacy with which he has treated the cause of his clients, has nevertheless not managed to disguise the extraordinary weaknesses, and, if I may put it so, the views resting on a complete ignorance of our ecclesiastical circumstances, of this