Sep 14, 2026 · 27 min · 16 segments
A state in Germany has seen the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party win nearly 44% of the vote—making it the state’s largest party and bringing it within three seats of a governing…
Liam AdamsGuestAmanda HendersonHost
Yeah, so the AFD, which was projected to have a strong majority of the electorate, performed even better than expected.
And right now there are negotiations to determine whether it has the governing power in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
It had this sort of wider impact where there was, I would say, a large fear throughout the sort of moderate to progressive wings of German politics about what this means for the whole country and not just for the state of Sachsen-Anhalt.
From perspective of a religion reporter, it is this beautiful state where there are more churches per capita than any other part of Germany.
So a lot of the areas that I went to have these churches that predate the Protestant Reformation by hundreds of years.
And so there had been several cities that I had gone to where you saw abandoned apartment buildings and abandoned storefronts in downtown areas.
And so you kind of have this intersection of really amazing history of the church And at the same time, you have this real sort of decline in major civic institutions.
Yeah, it sounds like there's this real dichotomy of this vibrant history and this kind of decline and stagnation that the community has experienced.
This one place has this long history that both predates the Protestant Reformation.
Yeah, so the AFD, which was projected to have a strong majority of the electorate, performed even better than expected.
And right now there are negotiations to determine whether it has the governing power in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
It had this sort of wider impact where there was, I would say, a large fear throughout the sort of moderate to progressive wings of German politics about what this means for the whole country and not just for the state of Sachsen-Anhalt.
From perspective of a religion reporter, it is this beautiful state where there are more churches per capita than any other part of Germany.
So a lot of the areas that I went to have these churches that predate the Protestant Reformation by hundreds of years.
And so there had been several cities that I had gone to where you saw abandoned apartment buildings and abandoned storefronts in downtown areas.
And so you kind of have this intersection of really amazing history of the church And at the same time, you have this real sort of decline in major civic institutions.
Yeah, it sounds like there's this real dichotomy of this vibrant history and this kind of decline and stagnation that the community has experienced.
This one place has this long history that both predates the Protestant Reformation.
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