DIE NIEDERSÄCHSISCHEN KIRCHENVERTRÄGE ALS ECKPUNKTE DER VERTRAGSENTWICKLUNG

The main incision of the Reich Constitution of 1919, which signalled the end of the constantinian epoch, was not correctly appreciated in the Weimar Republic. The state asserted the right of oversight of the churches. That seemed then to be a consequence of the incorporation of the churches as public-legal bodies, and the agreements from the Weimar Republic attenuated but did not abolish this attitude. The concordats were the pacesetters, and were followed by the Lutheran church-contracts. The situation was different after World War II. The Catholic Church was compromised by the argument over the applicability of the Reich Concordat. Niedersachsen's so-called "Loccumer Vertrag" with the five Lutheran regional churches is the first agreement after the "Kirchenkampf" and after the War. It gave expression to a new amicability in dealings between the state which was separate from the churches, and the churches which were independent of the state. It became the standard for Lutheran church-state agreements in other regions. The Niedersachsen Concordat, first agreed ten years later, and the additional agreement to the Loccumer Agreement both follow the path taken by the Loccum Agreement. This is also the'case for the agreements in the so-called new regions following the liberation of the peaceful revolution of 1989. The Loccum Agreement from 1955 was of fundamental significance. It brought to a definitive end the developments experienced in church-state law since the First World War. At the same time, it opened a new perspective and for a long time served as a sign for further development.