evangelisch Lutherische Kirche Rothenberg

Until 1875 there is only one church in Rothenberg. It is Evangelical-Lutheran faith since the introduction of the Reformation in the 16th century.A church fight began in the 70s of the 19th century in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, which also included the area of ​​the county of Erbach. Here, too, the principle of unity was formulated in the Peace of Westphalia: "cuius regio eius religio". This formula means that the subjects have to believe what the sovereign and his faith defines.But then the results of the Congress of Vienna changed the political map. Many territories became mixed confessional areas. This was also the case in Hesse-Darmstadt, where the prince was anxious to create a unified denomination in his area. - It was small groups that resisted this tutelage and demanded for themselves the right to freedom of belief and conscience - a good that is now being written on the flags of our community as a matter of course.Also the then Rothenberger pastor Emil Kraus belonged to the signatories of the formal protest, which stood against the unit ambitions of the Landesfürsten. In the course of the church fight, he was denied access to his church. Only a little later he also had to vacate the rectory.The congregation, which was initially a vast majority of her pastor, held their services for more than a year in homes of church members. From this time came the suggestion to create a "simultaneous church" (that means: a church building, in which two communities are domiciled with their services).This proposal was not successful. After the vicarage of the regional church was re-occupied by the church regiment, so the existence of a second church in Rothenberg was outlined: The Protestant Church, which is located in the immediate vicinity of the St. Martin's Church.In 1876, the Protestant Lutheran church built a parsonage for its pastor, in which a church hall was also set up. A few years later (1880/81) the construction of St. Martin's Church followed. Since 1989, the church and rectory are united by the creation of an intermediate building to a building complex. lutherisch-im-odenwald.de