In Karlsruhe, the youth welfare committee voted 17 to 6 not to recognise the evangelical-charismatic International Christian Fellowship as an approved youth welfare provider. City officials had first advised yes, based on the church's statutes, until the watchdog FundiWatch pointed to its anti-queer and missionary positions. Writing in German for the humanist press service hpd, Alexander Wolber argues the statutes never showed the required service to the common good.

He also points to a flaw in German law: churches with public-law status are recognised automatically, so a group like Jehovah's Witnesses could qualify while this church cannot. Local CDU and AfD councillors want a new application. For freethinkers his question is the right one: which groups should a secular state trust with other people's children?

Source: Alexander Wolber, hpd (German) (2026-11-10)
https://hpd.de/artikel/seelenfaenger-scheitern-karlsruhe-24554

Summarised by the FTI newsdesk.