Peace Forum Potsdam: New paths in peace ethics discussed!

Peace Forum Potsdam: New paths in peace ethics discussed!

On June 16, 2025, the dialogue forum “Creating peace – with weapons?!” will take place in the Garrison Church in Potsdam. which highlights a wide range of current peace ethics challenges and geopolitical threats. Organized by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Diakonie Deutschland, the evangelical future workshop midi and the Garrison Church Potsdam, the event offers a platform for in-depth discussions and reflections on the complexity of peace ethics in times of military conflict.

Prominent participants in the forum include Bishop Kirsten Fehrs and Bishop Friedrich Kramer from the EKD as well as Hans-Peter Bartels, the former military commissioner. Your personal insights could not be more relevant under the pressure of global threats. Bishop Fehrs emphasizes the importance of non-violent solutions - a principle that, despite all the challenges, has become more explosive in recent years, especially after Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law. “We have to adapt our peace ethics positions,” she emphasizes.

Peace ethics in transition

The discussion about the ethics of peace is shaped not only by current conflicts, but also by an emphatic historical context. The contents of the EKD peace memorial from 2007 have developed further in a changing global political situation. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the EKD has started a participatory process to redesign its peace ethics foundations. Loud evangelische-friedensarbeit.de This process is accompanied by a variety of consultations and expert discussions in order to discuss relevant topics and develop a new basic paper.

A crucial step in this process was the participatory resonance format, which will be tested in summer 2025. The aim is to integrate the changed global circumstances into the EKD's peace ethics considerations and at the same time to promote a broad dialogue within the general public. “We have to engage and honestly question how we understand and take responsibility for peace,” said Kramer.

The debate about arms deliveries

The ethical issues arising from the Ukraine conflict are particularly controversial. Activists even placed a destroyed tank in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin in protest. The EKD's pacifist approach is strongly represented by Margot Käßmann, the former council chairwoman, who advocates a stop to Western arms deliveries to Ukraine. However, her point of view is also opposed by critics such as Petra Bahr, who considers the delivery of weapons to be legitimate.

The diversity of opinions within the EKD reflects the discussed “camps of responsibility pacifism”, whose principles aim to always see violence as the ultimate possibility. EKD Council Chairwoman Annette Kurschus also emphasized that Ukraine's right to self-defense must not be neglected. At the same time, the attitude towards nuclear deterrence and the handling of weapons of mass destruction are being intensively discussed, because the clear rejection of nuclear threats is part of the church's pedagogical line.

At the end of 2025, the EKD plans to publish the results and reflections in order to create a clear and unified position on peace ethics and the associated questions. “Peace is a central ideal that we as a church must live up to in the face of current challenges,” says Käßmann.

The debate on peace ethics could not be more important, and the Potsdam Dialogue Forum will undoubtedly be a further step towards a broader understanding and a more coherent strategy for peace in the 21st century. The focus is on a dialogue that also includes the voices of society das-parlament.de reported.