Protestant Church

Marriage equality was a matter of debate as early as 1960 in the Netherlands. It became law in 2001. At the time, the country was the first in the world to legalize marriage for same-sex couples. "Some people had predicted that society would fall apart and family values would suffer. None of that has happened," the Dutch ambassador to Greece, Susanna Terstal, tells Kathimerini.

As the feats and fasts of the three religions have coincided in the same month for the first time in the last 36 years, Muslims, Christians and Jews have come together for the "Unity and Brotherhood Table" in the southern quake-hit province of Hatay, the city of civilizations and cultures for centuries.

Following the Feb. 6 earthquakes that caused massive destruction in the country's south, the first Sunday mass has taken place in front of the ruins of collapsed Antakya Protestant Church in the southern province of Hatay.

"Christianity as the world's largest religion is also most affected by violation of religious freedoms," says Petra Bosse-Huber, a bishop at the Protestant Church in Germany.

Turkey on Feb. 17 condemned a terrorist attack that killed at least 24 people when gunmen attacked a church in northern Burkina Faso.

"We condemn this terrorist attack. We extend our sincere condolences to the brotherly Government and people of Burkina Faso as well as to the families and relatives of those who lost their lives," Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Gunmen killed 24 civilians, including a church pastor, and kidnapped three others on Feb. 17 in Burkina Faso, an official said. It was the latest attack against a religious leader in the increasingly unstable West African nation.

A Protestant church in southeastern Turkey's Mardin province celebrated Easter on April 8. 

Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) strongly criticized a new "liberal" mosque in Germany on June 20, saying it violates the principles of Islam.     

The new Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque, a mosque which allows female and male Muslims to pray together and bans the wearing of burkas, was opened in Berlin on June 16. The mosque is located inside a Protestant church.        

Wittenberg is the German city where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door 500 years ago and launched the Protestant Reformation. To mark the anniversary, the local Protestant authorities have installed a robot called BlessU-2 to deliver blessings in five languages.

Turkish police have detained four suspects for "harming property," after attacking the Agape Protestant Church in the Black Sea province of Samsun, daily Agos has reported.