Germany's biggest Protestant gathering has opened in Dresden with calls to learn from the experiences of non-violence in the former GDR.

The former leader of Germany's Protestant's, the Rev Margot Kässmann, has criticised her country's government in an interview for cut-backs affecting the poorest in society.

A Roman Catholic archbishop in Germany has given support to the country's senior Protestant bishop, Margot Kässmann, in her criticism of Germany's military strategy in Afghanistan, following a controversial New Year 2010 sermon.

A German church has far exceeded its initial expectations in so far distributing more than 200,000 black bracelets intended as a symbolic protest against human rights abuses in China during the Olympic Games in Beijing.