Staatskirchenrecht oder Religionsverfassungsrecht? Argumente aus einer Relecture der evangelischen Stellungnahmen zum FDP-Kirchenpapier 1974

The current debate on the definition of the relationship between the state and religious communities is tied in with the alternative between the law of the relation between church and state (Staatskirchenrecht) and the constitutional rights of religious communities (Religionsverfassungsrecht). This controversy is considered by discussing arguments articulated by Protestant church theologians against the claims expressed by the FDP in 1974 for a radical separation of church and state. In retrospect, it is evident that the Protestant theologians then tried arguments that today would be attributed religionsverfassungs rechtlich. They had the intention of establishing legal reasons for the public presence of the Protestant churches despite their corporate inhomogeneity.