Coming up: meeting Germany's pro-life movement

Dear Reader,

Our newsletter for paying subscribers will be sent out this Sunday rather than the usual Saturday. The delay is because it will cover a pro-life march taking place in Cologne tomorrow.

I was struck by the intensity of the German response to Charlie Kirk’s murder. Public broadcasters have described him as a “right-wing extremist.” Shortly after the killing, the Washington correspondent for ZDF claimed that Kirk had advocated the stoning of homosexuals, while a primetime news anchor on the same channel called his views “abhorrent, racist and sexist.”

At the same time, public figures who spoke positively about the murdered pro-life activist faced swift censure. Caroline Bosbach, a young CDU lawmaker in the Bundestag, deleted an Instagram post in which she had called Kirk a “champion of Western values” after a storm of online criticism. Felix Nmecha, a midfielder for the German national team, also removed a social media post—apparently under pressure from his club—in which he had praised Kirk for “peacefully standing up peacefully for his beliefs.”

What has been missing from the German debate is nuance: Kirk was a man of deeply conservative politics, but also an idealist about public dialogue.

That got me thinking about people in Germany who share some of Kirk’s worldview—those who are pro-life, devoutly Christian, and believe that the nuclear family should be the cornerstone of society. They are rarely heard in public debate, but there are signs they may be emerging as a political force. For years, abortion policy in Germany seemed to be moving steadily toward liberalization. Yet, this summer, a nominee for the Constitutional Court failed spectacularly after CDU backbenchers rebelled against her liberal views on the rights of the unborn.

As it happens, annual pro-life marches are being held this weekend in both Cologne and Berlin. On Saturday, I’ll be in Cologne to meet some of these activists. I want to find out whether Kirk was seen as an important cultural figure among Christian conservatives here, how they reacted to the news of his death, and how they view the public debate around him that has taken place in Germany. More broadly, I want to understand what life is like as a pro-life activist in this country, whether they are optimistic about their ability to enact change, and whether coalitions are emerging with the AfD and other organisations on the “populist right.”

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Sincerely,

Jörg Luyken