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Bremen pastor in court for statements about homosexuals: Olaf Latzel's understanding of the Bible

2022-05-09T16:29:27.567Z


He called homosexuals "criminals", was convicted of sedition and appealed. In court, the Bremen pastor Latzel was now remorseful.


Enlarge image

Pastor Olaf Latzel between his defense attorneys in the Bremen district court

Photo: Sina Schuldt / dpa

When the television teams and photographers entered the imposing courtroom, Olaf Latzel was already sitting in the dock.

Followers from his community are already there.

The public prosecutor is a long time coming, the clergyman from Bremen's St. Martini Church gets up and stretches his legs.

A tall man, upright walk, broad back, square-faced, in a white shirt and black suit - and with a worldview as antiquated as the 19th-century paneling behind him.

According to the indictment, in the seminar “Biblical Driving School for Marriage”, the 54-year-old described homosexuality as a “degenerative form of society”.

He said: "This gay lobby, this diabolical thing, is getting stronger, more and more massive, pushing in more and more." "These criminals from this Christopher Street Day were running around everywhere," the pastor said in front of the 30 or so couples.

Statements that judge Hendrik Göhner can play in the process.

"Incited to hatred"

They are from October 19, 2019, the day of the seminary, and were also trumpeted via audio file on the Church’s YouTube channel.

In November 2020, the Bremen District Court therefore sentenced Latzel to a fine of 90 daily rates of 90 euros for incitement to hatred.

The pastor appealed.

So this Monday he is sitting in front of Criminal Chamber 51 in the Bremen District Court and hears Judge Göhner presenting the reasons for the judgment from the first instance.

Latzel "incited hatred," it says, and his statements are "an attack on human dignity."

more on the subject

  • Bremen pastor preaches hatred: "I am a very loveless person" by Annette Langer

  • Outrage over homophobic pastor: "If a clergyman spreads hate and fear, that is abuse of office"An interview by Annette Langer

  • Homosexuals compared to criminals: Bremen pastor accused of incitement to hatred

  • Trial for hate speech: Bremen pastor Olaf Latzel sentenced to a fine

  • Process start in Bremen: The pastor who is said to have incited hatred

Big misunderstanding

"In the course of equality of arms," ​​Latzel's defense attorney then requested that the reasoning of the appeal be read out.

After all, it was an "affair of the heart" for the pastor to end the proceedings without a public hearing in return for payment of a fine.

"The willingness to agree to a cessation under Section 153a of the Code of Criminal Procedure still exists," says the lawyer studiously.

But the prosecutor insists on the public interest, an appointment is out of the question.

The sentences used by the lawyer to justify the appeal sound like a major misunderstanding: by "criminals" the pastor only meant the "militant aggressors" who had been terrorizing the St. Martini congregation with disruptive actions for years.

"Bound to the Bible"

The pastor adds his own words, he speaks pointedly and precisely.

The marriage seminar took place in a closed circle.

"With people who are in church every Sunday, who know the orientation of our community and the difference between sinners and sins," emphasizes Latzel.

The Bible classifies homosexuality as a sin, but distinguishes between the sin and the sinner.

And: "For me, the Bible is the infallible word of God." Nowadays, that is no longer a matter of course for every theologian.

"That's our conservative orientation," says the pastor.

"My faith is tied to the Bible, even if theologians and society see things differently today." He can't talk about homosexuality in any other way than the biblical interpretation allows.

Nevertheless, homosexuals are "part of our community," says Latzel.

And not only there.

There are also homosexuals in his family and in his circle of friends – “I don't exclude them, but how I deal with homosexuality is something else”.

The preacher turns to the judge and says he is firmly against the exclusion of people.

»That goes completely against my Christian understanding and deeply contradicts the gospel.«

He repeats himself as if to emphasize these sentences.

He has apologized several times, he says, "so as not to appear inflammatory".

Latzel has been pastor of St. Martini Church for almost 15 years, he is married and has one daughter.

His two siblings are also Protestant pastors.

In evangelical circles, Olaf Latzel is seen as a pop star who dares to preach radical political views from the pulpit;

who seems to have found a home in the "Network Bible and Confession" with his conservative understanding of the Bible.

Communities that book him as a guest speaker far from Bremen see full audiences.

Latzel then interprets biblical motifs in his own way.

Tens of thousands follow the sermons of the pastor, who has a criminal record for animal cruelty after shooting his own German Shepherd, on YouTube.

During the refugee crisis of 2015, the man of God agitated that it was a sin to celebrate "sugar festivals and other nonsense" with Muslims.

Clear orders

In October 2019, Latzel said in front of the seminar participants, as can be heard in the courtroom: God created clear orders such as marriage, in which a man and a woman lived together.

"Others are now talking about the third sex," Latzel lectures in the recording.

“These are human inventions that have nothing to do with creation.

All this gender filth is an attack on God's order of creation, is deeply diabolical and satanic.

This is destroying our entire civilization.«

Latzel's "biblical view of marriage" fell on fertile ground on October 19, 2019.

One of the participants appears as a witness in court and declares that when a man loves a man it is "not okay."

"Every Christian knows that," says the 41-year-old.

But these people are by no means "worth less."

Break.

"These are people like us."

The trial will continue on Friday.

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-05-09

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