The new Federal President Christian Wulff is a member of the board of trustees of "Pro Christ", an evangelical organisation whose agenda includes the "healing" of homosexuals. Many media have reported on this. A press review.
Christian Wulff was elected as the new Federal President by the Federal Assembly yesterday. In the third ballot. By hook or by crook. Next week, the new head of state will move from Hanover to Berlin.
The former Minister President of Lower Saxony is considered by even party colleagues to have a relatively low profile. He appeared in the media as a "man without qualities", among other things. "Teflon is a grater compared to Christian Wulff," was the headline when Chancellor Merkel and Vice-Chancellor Westerwelle presented their candidate four weeks ago, beaming with joy.
But the media did take offence at one thing: the new Federal President, himself an avowed Catholic, supports the Christian missionary association "Pro Christ" and even sits on its board of trustees.
"Pro Christ" is a fundamentalist evangelical organisation that, following the American model, organises huge so-called "revival services" in Germany several times a year and is committed to just about everything that raises the hairs on the back of the neck of enlightened people, from homosexual healing and a conservative view of women to the blanket fight against the right to abortion.
In Wulff's defence, he is not alone on this board of trustees. The ZDF journalist Peter Hahne, the revived Christian and professional golfer Bernhard Langer and the former Bavarian Minister President Günter Beckstein also support "Pro Christ".
However, they are also not the Federal President, whose duties include taking the separation of church and state seriously and, if necessary, enforcing it with a veto.
A few days after the announcement of Wulff's candidacy, a small media purgatory broke out, fuelled by a post on the blog EsoWatch. Gay media also posed the question of what to expect from a President Wulff.
Queer.de deals in detail with the candidate's homopolitical positions and actions, for example his rejection of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG), better known as the Anti-Discrimination Act.
In the Men editor-in-chief Peter Rehberg analyses the candidate against the background of his party and the Evangelical movement. On the one hand, Wulff has so far "not particularly distinguished himself as a homophobe", writes Rehberg, he has even been involved in HIV/Aids policy and written greetings for gay events. On the other hand: "Christian Wulff is not to be trusted after his interest in these fundamental Christian believers." - "Wulff in sheep's clothing" is the headline of the text, which is all the more worth reading after the election.
Also recommended: In an interview on the website of Deutschlandradio Culture theologian and journalist Kirsten Dietrich explains the Evangelical movement. And Time dealt with the question of whether someone who believes that "a society gets better the more Christians live in it" can be an independent father of the nation or of all German citizens.
(Paul Schulz)
Deutschlandradio Kultur: "Dispute over Wulff and his office at 'Pro Christ'"
Men: "Wulff in sheep's clothing"
