In the Remigiusland, Konken was subject to the lordship of either the Bishopric of Reims or the Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims, but in terms of ecclesiastical organization, it belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz. Either way, the village was the hub of a parish. It is unknown when a church was first built in Konken, but it was likely in the Early Middle Ages. If the church that still stands now goes back to 1124, then there must once have been an older one. The church’s patron saint before the Reformation was Vitus (or locally, Veith). The mediaeval nave was replaced in 1771 with a spacious aisleless church. The old tower was kept, but later also underwent considerable alterations. Also belonging to the parish, besides Konken, were the villages of Albessen, Herchweiler, Herschweiler, Krottelbach (the part to the left of the brook), Langenbach, Unter-Selchenbach and Pettersheim. There were changes now and then, but in general, this arrangement is the one that held true. After the Reformation was introduced, which was binding on everyone, the hitherto autonomous parish of Quirnbach also long belonged to Konken, bringing along with it not only Quirnbach, but also Frutzweiler, Liebsthal, Rehweiler, Sangerhof and Trahweiler. As well as the 1556 Weistum mentioned above, an ecclesiastical one (a Kirchenweistum) has also survived from the Church of Konken. By the principle of cuius regio, eius religio, all the villagers had to convert in 1523 to Lutheranism, and in 1588, at Count Palatine Johannes I’s behest, everyone had to convert again, this time to Calvinism. In the times of the Thirty Years' War and French King Louis XIV’s wars of conquest, the parish of Niederkirchen in the Oster valley was likewise attached to the Church of Konken, although it was split away again as a parish in its own right in 1710. The parish of Quirnbach, too, along with all the villages associated with it, was eventually split off to become autonomous again once the population had grown so quickly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Even though other denominations were once again allowed after the Thirty Years' War, the villagers all remained Reformed (Calvinist) up to the merger of the Calvinist and Lutheran Churches in the 1818 Palatine Union. Roman Catholic Christians settled sporadically only in the course of the 19th century. Even today, Konken is the hub of a major Evangelical church community within the deaconry of Kusel, while Catholics belong to the Catholic church community and the Catholic deaconry of Kusel. Since there were formerly many Jews living in the village, Judaism earned itself some importance. In the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken before the Thirty Years' War, Jews stood under strict surveillance. They were allowed to “…lend usuriously neither a townsman nor a subject something, whether by pledge, or on the strength of jewels or clothes, or chattels or real property, without the authorities’ foreknowledge and approval.” They were once even forbidden the right to represent themselves in court. Under these circumstances, only a few Jews settled in the principality at first, which is not to say that they did not come in greater numbers later, towards the end of the 17th century, despite lingering reprisals, settling mostly in bigger villages and smaller towns as tradesmen. Many of them lived with a minimal livelihood. A few of them amassed great fortunes through trade, but very few of them ever made careers of being officials. With a population that was just short of 10% Jewish in 1825, Konken, at the time in the Oberamt of Lichtenberg, was said to be a village with a particularly high Jewish population (Odenbach was 8% Jewish and Steinbach, then Leyen domain, though, was 29% Jewish). There was strong Jewish migration in the early 19th century. In 1835, there were 85 Jews in Konken, almost 15% of the inhabitants at that time. To this great Jewish community, which also comprised some Jews outside the village, belonged a Judenschultheiß. There was a synagogue in Konken, which was most likely built in the earlier half of the 19th century. By the latter half of the 19th century, though, the Jewish population was already beginning to shrink. There were still 24 Jews living in Konken in 1919, but by 1933, the same year that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seized power, only 14 were still living in the village. After 1933, most of those remaining left the village. The last Jewish inhabitant was taken away by the Nazis in 1940 and deported to the Gurs internment camp in the South of France.Religion
