Politics & Power Quote by Karl Lehmann

Lehmann is doing something subtler than issuing a marching order: he is laundering a political program through the language of conscience. By insisting that Christians in public life must act "as individuals" before their faith, he borrows the moral prestige of private conviction to legitimize public consequence. Its an elegant rhetorical move for a Church leader in a pluralist democracy: you are not being coerced by an institution, you are being summoned by your own soul. The claim of personal responsibility makes the ensuing directive feel less like clerical interference and more like ethical authenticity.

Then comes the hinge: "the duty of encouraging laws" aligned with the Commandments is framed as part of the Church's mission. That phrasing avoids the bluntness of "impose" while still arguing that Christianity should not be a private hobby but a legislative compass. "Not in contradiction" is careful, defensive language; it anticipates pushback and narrows the pitch to a minimum standard. Yet the minimum standard is immense. The Commandments are not a policy platform, but they can be translated into policy fights over life, family, sexuality, education, even labor and truth-telling. The vagueness is the point: it keeps the mandate flexible while letting different factions claim fidelity.

Context matters: Lehmann, a major German Catholic figure after Vatican II, is speaking from a Europe where Christian Democratic parties long treated religion as a moral substrate for the state, even as secularization accelerated. The subtext is a warning against a faith that retreats into sentiment. If believers have influence, he suggests, neutrality becomes its own kind of betrayal.