Religion: New Day in Germany

In a suburban community of the ancient Westphalian city of Bielefeld—a sprawling colony of hospitals and asylums that for nearly a century has been a center of German religious charities—120 leading Calvinists, Lutherans and Unionists gathered last week from every part of Germany. Representing Germany's 35 million Protestants, they were holding the first regular meeting of EKID (Evangelical Church in Germany), under a brand-new ecclesiastical constitution.

The only prominent churchman not on hand was the one man chiefly responsible for bringing the unification about—Lutheran Bishop Theophil Wurm of Württemberg. The white-bearded grand old...