Less Freedom for the Church in Germany, Dictated by International Court

Vera Egenberger applied in 2012 for a job with Diakonie, a Protestant charity organization. When her application was rejected, the a-confessional Berliner filed a complaint for discrimination because of her atheism. After going through the Federal Work Court, the case was taken to the International Court of Justice.

This court ruled in favor of the plaintiff on April 17, 2018, as the judges consider that religious affiliation cannot be an automatic requirement for recruitment in religious structures.

According to the judges, this condition can only be applied when the position “objectively requires” religious affiliation, a spiritual mission for example.

This decision from the International Court of Justice could lead to other reassessments of the protective legal status that hitherto provided religious confessions with relative independence in Germany.

Thomas Schüller, a professor of canon law at the University of Catholic Theology in Munster, deplored this ruling that “marks a rupture with the German tradition of the autonomy of the ‘Churches’ that allowed them to choose their recruitment conditions freely.” He believes many complaints will now be filed in the courts.