ABSTRACT
By 1987, the situation of the churches in the GDR had grown extremely complex. The churches seemed helpless in the face of the increasing secularization of East German society. A leading Evangelical Church official spoke of a "profound resignation" within the Church's own ranks. The Church is considered a moral authority whose definition of norms and values can do justice to contemporary problems." The Church itself addressed both with increasing urgency and frankness. While backing the "peace policy" of sed leader Erich Honecker, the Church's pacifism went far beyond that accepted by the regime. The GDR's deteriorating environmental situation had been the subject of special Church services and seminars, and it featured in most of the Evangelical Church's public statements. The view was growing among East German Church intellectuals that Marxist society was actually responsible for producing religion. As one Church official put it: A certain society was conceived, which was to be areligious.
