INTRODUCTION

             My group had to do a project on the following topics: Architecture of the protestant churches, the Youth of Germany and their faith in god, and the Protestant movement.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES

             After our visit to a number of churches in Germany and after speaking to a number of priests and teachers; we gathered the following information about the architecture. We learned that, unlike the catholic churches, which are generally grand, the Protestants believed in simplicity. There were not many pictures on the walls as there are in the catholic churches. They believe in keeping things simple inside the church because if there is a lot of grand decorations, the people will not focus on the Bible being read, but instead will be distracted by the attractive wall paintings and so on. Also, there are not many Protestant churches in Augsburg and even throughout Germany there are not many when compared to the Catholic ones.

YOUTH OF GERMANY AND THEIR FAITH IN GOD

            We learned that the youth of Germany are not very spiritual and religious. A priest in a church told us that the youngest people who visited the church were aged 35 to 40 years. When we questioned a few youngsters about why they didn’t visit churches often, they simply said that they weren’t interested! Even our host partners, being around 15 or 16 years old, expressed that they did not find the need to visit churches and that no one forced them to go to the churches.

THE INTERVIEW WITH A PROTESTANT PRIEST

            My partner, though being a catholic, made arrangements for me to visit and speak to a protestant priest. As he did not know much English, the interview went on in German. We asked him questions about Martin Luther and the Protestant movement. He had much to say! ...

PROTESTANT MOVEMENT AND MARTIN LUTHER

         Martin Luther was born on the 10th of November, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. He started the famous Reformation movement. He was strictly against the act of the Catholic church for selling ‘Letters of indulgence’ or the ‘Pardon certificates’ to the people for the sins they have committed. Many people bought these pardon certificates. This indeed made the church earn a lot of money! He also wrote a long list of 95 complaints against the church. This was known as the 'Ninety Five Theses'. The copies of the Theses spread throughout Germany within two weeks and spread throughout Europe within a month or two. Thus, people from different parts of Europe got actively involved in this movement.

         The Reformation has profoundly afflicted the modern view of politics and law. Prior to the Reformation, the church governed politics, controlled emperors and kings.