In Germany, secular ‘confirmation’ thrives again: The history of secularism as an alternative to organized church religion in Germany is a long and winding one. Begun more than 150 years ago, the Jugendweihe was a way to educate and raise young people outside a religious tradition, a movement that faced persecution during Nazi times and later in the East German Republic — after a short period of having been forbidden — became a state-driven, communist anti-religious movement.
