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Munich (AP) - For the council chairman of the Evangelical Churches in Germany (EKD), Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, the term of office of the former US President Donald Trump was "a nightmare".
"It was a nightmare to have someone at the head of this country for four years who simply ignored the basic rules of human interaction (...)," said the Bavarian regional bishop on Tuesday in the Munich press club.
"The worst thing about that time was that there were certain things no longer taken for granted that most of us thought were part of democratic culture."
Trump polarized US society and "simply caused tremendous damage."
Bedford-Strohm, who is married to an American and also lived in the USA for a time, now sees a “collective egoism” there, which is manifesting itself in a new form of nationalism.
The bishop emphasized: "Nationalism is a sin".
He also sees the trend towards polarization in Germany - fueled by hate speech on the Internet and the associated “distortion of reality”.
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But he also sees great opportunities for his church in the digital world.
"You can also create a form of community through these digital media," he said.
The corona pandemic has drastically changed the Protestant church.
"It has already changed our church that we were forced to find other ways to reach people," said Bedford-Strohm.
80 percent of the parishes offered digital formats.
"That was a digital revolution in our Protestant church."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210126-99-173365 / 2
Live stream from the press club