Party of Bible-abiding Christians

[[File:Partei Bibeltreuer Christen logo.svg|thumb|165px|Partei Bibeltreuer Christen logo]]
{{Politics}}{{Christianity}}
{{ctransquote|Unbelief, the pursuit for self-fulfillment and wealth are the dangers of our time to the spiritual substance of our people.|German|Unglaube, Streben nach Selbstverwirklichung und Wohlstand bedrohen zur Zeit die geistliche Substanz unseres Volkes.|||Party Program, Page 3}}
The '''Party of Bible-abiding Christians''' (PBC, ''Partei bibeltreuer Christen'') is a minor [[Germany|German]] [[Evangelism|evangelical]] [[political party]]. The party was founded in 1989 and has around 3,500 members. The party is well known throughout Germany for its (most insane) election posters and quoting of the Bible in each one of them.

== Geography and elections ==
The party grossed only 0.2% of the vote (108,605 votes) in federal elections and 0.4% (98,651 votes) in the 2009 European Parliament election. On regional (Länder) level the party never came over 0.7% and has its strongest following in Baden-Württemberg (South-West) and Saxony (Central-East).

== Political program ==
The party is extremely socially conservative for German measures and would easily meet the standards of social conservatives in the [[United States]]. Economically, the party is [[centrist]] with a lean toward [[social democracy]].

=== Views of Germany ===
The PBC [[Argument from adverse consequences|tries very hard to link all bad things]] in Germany — and generally in the world — to a lack of religious morality, preferably the Christian "bible-abiding" version. The party likes to link the godlessness of modern society to crime rates and, in its latest form, to all financial crisis.

The PBC employs a slightly [[Revisionism|revisionist]], "the good ol' days" view of the German nation. They emphasize the supposedly Christian roots of the German nation and see the German constitution as a present from God.

=== Views on Europe ===
The PBC is neither [[eurosceptic]] nor [[pro-European]], but emphasizes a peaceful [[European Union]] of sovereign countries. The PBC demands a "shout-out" to god for any future European constitution (or other fundamental treaties) and sees not mentioning God as "discrimination of bible-abiding Christians".<ref>{{fref|url=http://www.pbc.de/index.php?id=874&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1386&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=1371&cHash=31fffd07d8 |title=Kommt die Diktatur Europa? Kommt eine Verfolgung bibeltreuer Christen? ("Will the dictatorship Europe come? Will there be a persecution of bible-abiding Christians?")|lang=German}}</ref>

=== Views on Islam and Israel ===
The views and positions the PBC holds on [[Islam]] and the Arabic region are almost entirely rooted in in their staunch support for [[Israel]]. That support is rooted in the typical German argument of "we owe 'em this much" and a "support" of the state of Israel by the Bible. In this way, Islam is not held in contempt as long as it supports the existence of Israel. As this isn't very often the case, the party usually comes off as critical of Islam, even though this is only "the enemy of my friend is my enemy". The PBC supports development aid for islamic countries as long as they provide equal rights for Christians as for Muslims<ref>Party program, Chapter 11.2</ref> — while it's commendable to demand tolerance for minority religions, it's less so when by omission, apparently Hindus and Buddhists are SOL. 

In the wake of the [[Arab Spring]], the PBC was critical of the developments mostly because of the poor Christians in that region that might now be more suppressed than under military rule (the Muslims obviously don't count enough for a revolution to be justified). The PBC employed a [[Conspiracy theory|"the mainstream media aren't telling you everything" strategy]] to overemphasize the involvement of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] and the danger Christians were and are in. This went so far as to 
copy
 agree with American fundies that the Arab Spring would only lead to Arab world-spanning, [[sharia]] law using, anti-Israeli fascist Islamic states willing to declare war on Israel and the West.<ref>{{fref|url=http://www.pbc.de/index.php?id=874&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1815&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=756&cHash=b262faf169 |title=Großosmanische Bestrebung vom türkischen Ministerpräsident  ("Greater-Osmanian Endeavor of Turkish Prime Minister")|lang=German}}</ref>

=== Education ===
The PBC wants to make Bible classes and teacher guided class prayer compulsory for all pupils — even atheists and "children of foreigners" (code word for Muslims). Ironically it also wants to strengthen the weight of parents' opinion within schools and lift the ban on homeschooling. One can only guess that parents of other or no faith would ''not'' be given such liberties. It also supports creationism being taught in school, although it is not clear if this would substitute evolution, as it is possible in Germany to teach creationism outside of biology.<ref>Party program, Pages 6-7</ref>

=== Privacy, media and conspiracy ===
They are anti-abortion including demonstrations to outlaw it, and they link this topic with their [[Persecution complex|fear of being persecuted as Christians]].<ref>http://www.pbc.de/index.php?id=standpunkte_lebensrecht</ref> Hand in hand with this also goes a belief that homosexuality is a mental disorder and [[Reparative therapy|can be cured]]. While they don't outright speak of a [[homosexual agenda]], the notion of something like that swings with it and the party declares that it will not be silenced on this matter.<ref>{{fref|url=http://www.pbc.de/index.php?id=874&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1647&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=1359&cHash=77f403b668 |title=Ausstieg aus der Homosexualität? ("Exit from Homosexuality?") |lang=German}}</ref> The party is strictly opposed to [[Euthanasia|euthanasia]].<ref>Party program, Chapter 7.2</ref>

The PBC would like to outlaw porn, "glorifications of violence", children or teenagers touching each other ("Kuppelei") and homosexuality being seen as normal.<ref>Party program, Page 7</ref>  Of course they also support outlawing blasphemy in the media, and for giving Christian churches seats in councils controlling public media.<ref>Party program, Chapter 15</ref>

=== Ecology ===
Against expectations, the PBC is also a green party. The argument goes that as God has given humans dominion over all species of creation and such creation is holy, destroying life without the imperative to care for it, or to exploit it purely for profit, is seen as a crime against creation, against God and therefore a [[sin]]. The party therefore opposes nuclear energy, energy from fossil fuels, animal testing and cloning. On most of these topics the party is willing to make concessions, though.<ref>Party program, Chapter 9</ref>

== External links ==
* [http://www.pbc.de/fileadmin/pbc-de/editors/print/pbc-gp.pdf Party Program] (German)
* [http://www.pbc.de/ Official website] (German)

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:European political parties]]
[[Category:Germany]]
[[Category:German politics]]

Categories: European political parties, Germany, German politics