Editing Solingen (section)

===Christianity===
Solingen has belonged from its beginnings to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne]] (''Erzbistum Köln''), and more specifically to the [[Archdeacon]]ry of the [[Probst]] (''provost'') of [[Cunibert|St. Kunibert]], the [[deanery]] of Deutz. For reasons that are unclear, the city has long been associated with St. Clement, the third Pope, symbols of whose martyrdom appear on the city’s shield.
Although the [[Protestant Reformation]] gradually made gains in the city, which was under the control of the [[Berg (state)|Counts of Berg]], the population by and large remained Roman Catholic for a while. The Catholic community was newly endowed by the local lord in 1658 and in 1701 received a new church building. In 1827 Solingen became the seat of its own deanery within the newly defined Archdiocese of Cologne, to which the city's current parishes still belong.

As mentioned, the Reformation only gradually gained a foothold in Solingen. A [[reformed church]] affiliated with the Bergisch [[synod]] was established in 1590, and the city's [[parish church]] became reformed in 1649. [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] had been present in Solingen since the beginning of the 17th century, and a Lutheran congregation was founded in 1635. In 1672 a formalized religious agreement was reached between the city's religious groups. The Reformation was also introduced in Gräfrath in 1590, where a church council was apparently established in 1629. The Reformed and Lutheran churches were formed into a [[United and uniting churches|united church community]] in 1838 following the general [[Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)|merger of Reformed and Lutheran churches]] in [[Prussia]] in 1817.

The [[Protestant]] parishes originally belonged to the district synod of Lennep, today part of the city [[Remscheid]]. A new synod was established in Solingen in 1843, and the city acquired its own [[Superintendent (ecclesiastical)|superintendent]], a form of church administrator. This formed the basis for the present-day Church District of Solingen, a member of the [[Evangelical Church in the Rhineland]]. With the exception of the [[free churches]], most Protestant churches belong to the Church District of Solingen.

Today approximately 34% of Solingen's population belongs to Protestant churches, and roughly 26% belong to Catholic churches. Other church communities in Solingen include [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox]], [[Union of Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Germany|Evangelical Free]] (including [[Baptist]] and [[Plymouth Brethren|Brethren]]), [[United Methodist Church|Methodist]], [[Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-day Adventist]], [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]], [[The Salvation Army|Salvation Army]], and [[Free church|free]] churches. [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and the [[New Apostolic Church]] also have communities in Solingen.