As the far-right in Germany aims to take power, churches are fighting back
BURG near Magdeburg, Germany (RNS) — Zholia Parsi bounced on a blue-and-white Noxon mountain bike as she rode laps around the fieldstone sanctuary of St. Petri Kirche, speaking to family on the phone and laughing.
Parsi, who led a women’s rights movement in Afghanistan and fled after imprisonment and death threats from the Taliban, is known internationally for her work on human rights . But in her past three months living at St. Petri as part of its church asylum program, she’s careful not to venture beyond the cement wall that encloses the congregation’s chapel and parish house.
But the bike, which she’d never ridden before coming to St. Petri, is enough freedom for now.
“Believe me, learning was not easy. I fell many times,” Parsi said in an interview, using a translation app on her phone.
She rolled up her corduroy pant leg to reveal a scar on her shin as proof of her practice. “Now, whenever I get on my bicycle … I forget all my sadness and worries. Cycling is not just a hobby for me.”
Under the leadership of the Rev. Ulrike Bischoff, pastor of St. Petri since 2023, the church dedicated the parish house to church asylum. As many as 20 people stay there every year,…
