Religion: Back to Darkness

A year ago, the persecution of Protestantism in East Germany was at its height. Then Stalin died, and, like the sudden end of a spring storm, sweetness and light seemed to shine from Moscow. Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl received the bishops of the Eastern Evangelical Churches and a treaty of church-state peace was signed.

Last week, reviewing the year, battle-worn old (73) Bishop Otto Dibelius told his 120-man Evangelical Church Synod, which represents East and West German Protestantism, that the sweetness had turned sour and the light was all but gone. Pressure on Christian students has begun again, surveillance of pastors and their services has been increased, and church collections have been prohibited.

"We have learned to do our work under the sign of the Cross," said the bishop, "to work as a suffering church.

"But the church remains mindful of its dignity and responsibilities. The church expects its rights to be respected . . .

"We will never cease to say," he went on with heavy emphasis, "that the State stands beneath the law and not above it."