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Comment by SpicyLemonZest | Hacker News Reader

I think the religion difference is a lot smaller than you're giving it credit for. In Germany, most conservatives vote for an explicitly Christian political party and Good Friday is a public holiday. It's also my understanding, although I haven't researched this in detail, that German public schools are permitted or even required to offer religious instruction far beyond what would be allowed in the US.

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The party is called the "Christian Democratic Party" but in practice pushes no christian policies. 47% of germans are legally atheists. Only 5% regularly visit mass.

All very true, but I don't think it contradicts my point. Perhaps the lower prevalence of religious participation in Germany makes German secularists more comfortable with religious symbols and practices.

When Americans describe themselves as "Christian" they are effectively talking about a different religion than the "Christian" in CDU. Americans that do fit into that same bucket use words that describe the so-called "mainline" Christianity like "Catholic" or "Lutheran."

The only thing that modern evangelical churches have in common is they read the same bible and believe Christ was resurrected, but their theology is different, their practices are different, there is no formal clergy or clerical education/scholarship, and their values typically invert from what every other Christian denomination teaches. And there are more cults than you can possibly imagine.

The churches are rather pro-refugee, the majority in Germany is rather not. What do the conservatives do in a democracy? They follow the majority.

The German state is linked more to religions but rather trajectory it is becoming more secular. My example about Texas shows the different direction and shows how Germany is changing into a different direction then what MAGA people want.

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