This appeal is an initiative of Reformed theologians from the Protestant Church of Switzerland (PCS). It was made available to the PCS and published on its platform without constituting an official statement by the Council of the PCS.   Indignation is common. We are not outraged, because for us it is not about morals; rather, we are concerned because it is a matter that involves the coexistence of people and nations. Coexistence is a question of culture. We are observing a decline in culture and the rise of barbarism. Culture, which has developed over centuries and is an achievement of many people worldwide, is threatened with ruin within a few years — not only by uninhibited communication, but also by the ruthless dictates of individuals and their entourage. We like to use social media. We welcome technological developments. However, when they are accompanied by disinhibition, the threat of communicative barbarism arises. Reviling and threats turn them into asocial media. A sensible approach to technology-supported communication requires education. Like reading and writing, chatting and messaging must also be a cultural technology, otherwise they do not serve communication but aggression. Communication is in danger of becoming vulgar. Coexistence is not promoted but ruined. What holds true for personal interaction also holds true for political interaction between those in government and those governed, and between states. When political leaders carelessly adopt lying and twisting, reviling and threatening, defaming and insulting – attitudes that increasingly characterise disinhibited communication in networks – in order to use them as instruments of political action, they commit political barbarism. Democratically-governed states are shared cultural achievements. They are based on rules that were developed and improved over many generations: these include, firstly, the individual’s renunciation of power in favour of power acquired by all as the democratic sovereign; secondly, the separation of powers into the legislative, executive and judicial branches; and thirdly, the decision-making paths of participation, subsidiarity and complementarity. These are fundamental achievements that have led to the creation of a body of rules in both the micro and macro spheres. Ideally, they bring about what the American political scientist Benjamin Barber in 1984 called a strong democracy. Incidentally, those who do not know and understand the basic concepts just mentioned should not be given any power. Those who know and apply them have a political culture. We are concerned about the disinhibition, coarsening and deterioration of social coexistence. Market-dominating corporations manipulate what they themselves praise as social networks for the sake of profit, and they willingly rally around tyrannical autocrats as soon as the democratic winds start to die down. The tyrant, however, surrounded by oligarchs hanging on to his every word, is the pre-modern, undemocratic and absolutist model of the century from 1650-1750: the tyrannical claim L’état c’est moi! has long since been overtaken by the democratic right We are the people! Our mothers and fathers fought for this. They deserve respect. We are concerned and speak out not because we are church people, but because, as theologians from the tradition of Zwingli, Bullinger and Calvin, we remember the contributions that biblical interpretation from the century from 1530-1630 has made to the education of all citizens and thus to the development of rules-based communication and politics worldwide. None of this could be taken for granted before: everyone can read and write, is contractually and legally competent, has free access to libraries and responsible knowledge, lends their power to those elected only for a limited time, and supports democratically regulated and controlled sciences, networks and cultural institutions. This was the dream of emigrants from absolutist states, this is what made their new states great. The Bible constantly emphasises that the hallmark of how just a regime is, is not that it primarily cultivates the centre of society, where the strong and the well-fed have always been at home, but rather the margins of coexistence: the just are those whose consideration is also for widows and orphans, the poor and strangers, and who integrate them. This is not a leftist idea but a biblical one, which grew out of experience with oriental and ancient tyrants. As Reformed theologians, we call on our church institutions, from the local parish to the global church federation, to counter the deterioration of our communicative and political culture:

• Say NO when the autocrat fraternises with the prince of the church to legitimise illegitimately appropriated power.
• Say NO when the autocrat acts as a biblical interpreter in order to present his abuse of power as being willed by God.
• Say NO when autocrats conjure up the return of an age that they have invented for the purpose of enriching themselves.
• Say NO when autocrats dismantle education, networks and diplomacy because they are justifiably afraid of criticism.
• Say NO when autocrats join together like ordinary criminals to divide the world among themselves.
• Say NO when well-founded criticism of power is to be silenced by censorship.
• If you do not say NO in such cases, you deny our biblical traditions of criticising power, to which Jesus also belonged.
• By saying no, say YES to the shared public responsibility of the churches for a rules-based culture of communication and politics.
• By saying no, say YES to a culture of reconciliation and respect.

It is time to make the last song in our hymnal the first: The heaven that is, is not the heaven that shall come when heaven and earth pass away. The heaven that shall come is the Lord who comes when the lords of the earth have gone.

Initiators

• Dr. phil., Dr. theol. habil. Matthias Krieg, ehem. Leiter der Abteilung Bildung und Theologischer Sekretär, Zürich

• lic. phil. I Giorgio Vittorio Girardet, Synodaler in der Synode der Reformierten Kirchen Kanton Zürich für die Chiesa Evangelica di Lingua Italiana di Zurigo (Waldenser), Zürich

• Pfarrerin Catherine McMillan, Beauftragte Internationale Beziehungen, Reformierte Kirche Kanton Zürich

Initial signatories Switzerland

• Pfarrerin Cornelia Camichel Bromeis, Stadtkirche St. Peter, Zürich
• Prof. Dr. François Dermange, Université de Genève
• Dr. Thorsten Dietz, Erwachsenenbildung, Evangelisch-reformierte Landeskirche des Kantons Zürich
• Pfarrer Dr. Manuel Dubach, Reformierte Kirche Burgdorf, Bern
• Pfarrer Heinz Fäh, Kirchenrat der Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche des Kantons St. Gallen, Ressort Weltweite Kirche, St. Gallen
• Dr. Stephan Jütte, Leiter Theologie & Ethik der EKS, Bern
• Pfarrerin Sibylle Forrer, Reformierte Kirchgemeinde Kilchberg, Zürich
• Pfarrer Dr. Martin Hirzel, Leiter Aussenbeziehungen und Werke, Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche Schweiz, Bern
• Prof. Dr. Ralph Kunz, Praktische Theologie an der Theologischen und Religionswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Zürich
• Prof. emer. Dr. Peter Opitz, Zürich
• Rev. Dr. Odair Pedroso Mateus, Former Deputy General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Geneva
• Prof. Dr. David Plüss, Homiletik, Liturgik und Kirchentheorie an der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Bern
• Pfarrerin VDM Kathrin Rehmat-Suter, Predigerkirche Zürich
• Pfarrer Martin Rüsch, Grossmünster Zürich
• Pfarrer Dr. theol. Matthias Rüsch, Reformierte Kirche Uster, Zürich
• Prof. Dr. Martin Sallmann, Institut für Historische Theologie, Universität Bern
• KMD Prof. emer. Beat Schäfer, Chorleitung an der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK), Leiter der Abteilung “Kirchenmusik – Chor – Orgel“, Zürich
• PD Dr. Christine Schliesser, Beauftragte Theologie, Reformierte Kirchen Bern-Jura-Solothurn
• Dr. Manuel Schmid, RefLab und Hochschularbeit, Evangelisch-reformierte Landeskirche des Kantons Zürich
• Pfarrer Dr. theol. Jacques-Antoine von Allmen, Beauftragter für die Pfarrweiterbildung in der Schweiz, Zürich
• Pfarrer Dr. Christian Walti, Grossmünster Zürich
• Prof. emer. Dr. Matthias Zeindler, ehem. Leiter Fachstelle Theologie der Reformierten Kirche Bern-Jura-Solothurn, Erlach

Initial signatories International

• Rev. Ian Alexander, International Partnerships, Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
• Rev. Dr. Susan R. Andrews, Moderator of the 215^th General Assembly of the PCUSA, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
• Pfarrer Bernd Becker, Publizist, Moderator des Reformierten Bundes in Deutschland, Bielefeld, Deutschland
• Rev. Dr. Glen Bell, Presbyterian Foundation, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
• Rev. Dr. Susan Brown, Past Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (2018/19), Chaplain to the King in Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
• Farářka Ester Čašková, Cetoraz, Tschechien
• Rev. Dr. Chris Currie, Senior Pastor St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
• Rev. Dr. Douglas J. Brouwer (PCUSA), Author, Holland, Michigan, USA
• Pfarrer, Dr. phil. habil. Achim Detmers, ehem. Generalsekretär Reformierter Bund, Hannover, Deutschland
• Rev. Thomas Dummermuth, Eastridge Presbyterian Church, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
• Rev. Dr. Leah R. Hrachovec, Lead Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
• Rev. Cindy Kohlmann, Connectional Presbyter/Stated Clerk, New Castle Presbytery Past Moderator, 223rd General Assembly (2018-2020), Presbyterian Church Wilmington, Delaware, USA
• Rev. Prof. Dr. Neal D. Presa, Past Moderator, 220th General Assembly (2012-14), Presbyterian Church, San Jose, California, USA
• Rev. Ph.D. Dr. Patrick B. Reyes, Auburn Theological Seminary, New York City, New York, USA
• Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, Author and Speaker, Past Moderator, 218^th General Assembly (2008-2010), Presbyterian Church, San Jose, California, USA
• Rev. Matthew Z. Ross, Minister, Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
• Uwe Steinmetz, Dekanatskirchenmusiker im Bayerischen Wald, Regensburg, Deutschland
• Pastor Lisa L. Vander Wal, Reformed Church in America, Vice President, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Past President of the General Synod, Reformed Church in America, Niskayuna, New York, USA
• Dipl.-Pol. Martina Wasserloos-Strunk, Präsidentin des Europäischen Gebiets der Weltgemeinschaft reformierter Kirchen, Mönchengladbach-Rheydt, Deutschland

Other signatories

All signatures (175), as of May 19.

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