“Singing can be contagious in the literal sense”

Westphalian President Annette Kurschus has expressed understanding for the fact that many people miss singing together in church services. She warned however because of the Corona danger of infection urgently before it.

Singing together, however, in choirs or in church services, at concerts or in stadiums, seems dangerous, Kurschus said Wednesday in her devotional on WDR radio. The sounds could be used to emit viruses and infect others.

"It is almost cynical how the salutary infectious power of singing together is suddenly turned into its smooth opposite," said the leading theologian of the fourth largest state church: "Singing could in the literal sense infect and make ill."

"Singing and praying are closely connected"

At Pentecost, some would have sung again in the open air, in the service on the large lawn in front of the church or in the clearing in the woods, Kurschus continued, who is also deputy chairwoman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

Singing and praying were closely related to each other. Many prayers in the Bible were originally songs. Singing carries people beyond themselves. "I can put my joy and my sadness into the tones, my longing and my hope," the senior theologian said. "God grant that we may soon be able to sing together again without danger," the 57-year-old theologian declared. "Until then, he himself will represent us."