"and Knopp's comments found few critics in Germany. Most Germans consider Scientology a subversive organization. In 1997, ""Time"" reported that 70% of Germans favoured banning Scientology; a poll conducted in September 2008 by ""Der Spiegel"" found 67% support for a ban. German scholars such as Brigitte Schön and Gerald Willms have commented that rhetoric dominates public discourse around Scientology in Germany: in their view, efforts to ""frame"" information in such a way as to shape opinion have long been more important than the underlying realities. In Schön's words, this includes both the ""efforts of German politicians to enhance their popularity"
"Germany it is seen as a totalitarian anti-democratic organization and is under observation by national security organizations due to, among other reasons, suspicion of violating the human rights of its members granted by the German Constitution, including Hubbard's pessimistic views on democracy vis-à-vis psychiatry and other such features. In December 2007, Germany's interior ministers said that they considered the goals of Church of Scientology to be in conflict with the principles of the nation's constitution and would seek to ban the organization. The plans were quickly criticised as ill-advised. The plans to ban Scientology were finally dropped in November 2008,"
"to include Christianity in the treaty was undertaken in 2007 with the drafting of the Treaty of Lisbon. Angela Merkel promised the Pope that she would use her influence during Germany's presidency to try to include a reference to Christianity and God in the treaty. This has provoked opposition, not least in the German press, and as this inclusion may have caused problems in reaching a final agreement, this attempt was given up. Of the Union's 28 states, only four have an official state religion, these being Denmark (Church of Denmark), Greece (Church of Greece), Malta (Catholic Church) and England"
"""sufficiently"" consider the religious significance of the rite. A spokesman, Steffen Seibert, for German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Jewish and Muslim communities will be free to practice circumcision responsibly, and the government would find a way around the local ban in Cologne. The spokesman stated ""For everyone in the government it is absolutely clear that we want to have Jewish and Muslim religious life in Germany. Circumcision carried out in a responsible manner must be possible in this country without punishment."". In July, a group of rabbis, imams, and others said that they view the ruling against circumcision ""an"
"God"", 25% responded that ""they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force"" and 27% responded that ""they don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force"". 4% gave no response. Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, comprising an estimated 57.9% of the country's population. Islam is the second largest religion in Germany, with an estimated 6.1% of the population according to a 2017 Pew Research Survey. Germany has the second largest Muslim population in Europe, at nearly 5 million, and is expected to grow significantly in the coming decades. Smaller religious groups (less"
"Religion in Germany Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, comprising an estimated 57% of the country's population in 2017. The second largest religion in Germany is Islam, with around 4 million adherents in 2016 (5% of the population). Smaller religious groups include Buddhism (0.2%), Judaism (0.1%), Hinduism (0.1%) and others (0.4%). About 36–37% of the country's population are not affiliated with any church or religion, and a minority adhere to other religions. The two largest Christian churches of the country are the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), a Protestant confederation of United Protestant (Lutheran"
"stance of the state towards religion. As of 2006, many of the German federal states have introduced legislation banning head-scarves for teachers. It is almost certain that in 2006 these laws will be validated as constitutional. In the German federal states with the exception of Bremen, Berlin and Brandenburg, lessons of religious education overseen by the respective religious communities are taught as an elective subject in state schools. It is being discussed whether apart from the Catholic and Protestant (and in a few schools, Jewish) religious education that currently exists, a comparable subject of Islamic religious education should be introduced"
"lowest rate with 22%, followed by Hesse and Bavaria, each with 26%. Irreligion is predominant in the eastern part of Germany, which is considered to be the least religious region in the world. An exception is former West Berlin, which had a Christian plurality in 2016 (44.4% Christian and 43.5% unaffiliated). It also has a higher share of Muslims, at 8.5%, compared to former East Berlin with only 1.5% self-declared Muslims as of 2016. On the other hand, Christianity is the dominant religion of Western Germany, excluding Hamburg, which has a non-religious plurality. On 26 April 2009, a referendum ()"
"among German youths (aged 12 to 24) in the year 2006, most German youths are non-religious (51%). 30% of German youths stated belief in a personal god, 19% believe in some kind of supernatural power, 23% share agnostic views and 28% are atheists. Islam is the largest non-Christian religion in the country. There are between 4 and 4.7 million Muslims, around 5% of the population. The majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish origin, followed by those from Pakistan, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Arab countries, Iran, and Afghanistan. This figure includes the different denominations of Islam, such as"
"membership in Scientology. In March 2007, it was reported that German authorities were increasing their efforts to monitor Scientology in response to the opening of a new Scientology headquarters in Berlin. On December 7, 2007, German federal and state interior ministers expressed the opinion that the Scientology organization was continuing to pursue anti-constitutional goals, restricting ""essential basic and human rights like the dignity of man or the right to equal treatment"", and asked Germany's domestic intelligence agencies to collect and evaluate the information required for a possible judicial inquiry aimed at banning the organization. The move was criticized by German"
"is a plan to abolish all existing religions—Catholic, Protestant, Mohammedan, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish alike. The property of all churches will be seized by the Reich and its puppets. The cross and all other symbols of religion are to be forbidden. The clergy are to be forever liquidated, silenced under penalty of the concentration camps, where even now so many fearless men are being tortured because they have placed God above Hitler. But according to Steigman-Gall, some Nazis, like Dietrich Eckart (d.1923) and Walter Buch, saw Nazism and Christianity as part of the same movement. Aggressive anti-Church radicals like Joseph"
"Die Wahre Religion Die Wahre Religion (DWR, in English ""The True Religion"") is an Islamist Salafi organisation based in Germany that was founded in 2005 by Palestinian-born German Salafist Ibrahim Abou-Nagie. The organization is thought to have had around 500 active members. Die wahre Religion takes part in Koran distribution campaigns. The declared goal of the campaign under the name ""Lies!"" (meaning Read! in German) is to provide a Quran translation to every household in Germany. According to the founder, around 3.5 million copies were distributed by mid-2016. The organization was successfully banned in November 2016 by the German government"
"and Deed: Implications for Muslims and Christians” or the “Berlin Forum for Progressive Muslims” (2011; 2013), a symposium of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. She has also served as an expert for the Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid Committee of the German Bundestag. One of the findings of the institute she heads (as of 2007) is that no Islamic country today grants Christians real religious freedom. Rather, they would be socially discriminated against and harassed in numerous states. Those who convert from Islam to Christianity are sometimes even threatened with death (see Apostasy in Islam). Europe is also facing new challenges"
"across the EU in early 2005 failed after objections from the British Government and others. In early 2007, while Germany held the European Union presidency, Berlin proposed that the European Union should follow German Criminal Law and criminalize the denial of the Holocaust and the display of Nazi symbols including the swastika, which is based on the Ban on the Symbols of Unconstitutional Organizations Act. This led to an opposition campaign by Hindu groups across Europe against a ban on the swastika. They pointed out that the swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace. The"
"and other employers use so-called ""sect filters"" to expose a prospective business partner's or employee's association with the organization. German federal and state interior ministers started a process aimed at banning Scientology in late 2007, but abandoned the initiative a year later, finding insufficient legal grounds. Despite this, polls suggest that most Germans favor banning Scientology altogether. Scientology, founded in the early 1950s in the United States by L. Ron Hubbard and today claiming to be represented in 150 countries, has been a very controversial new religious movement. Its stated utopian aim is to ""clear the planet"", to bring about"
"politicians from all sides of the political spectrum, with legal experts and intelligence agencies expressing concern that an attempt to ban the organization would likely fail in the courts. Sabine Weber, president of the Church of Scientology in Berlin, called the accusations ""unrealistic"" and ""absurd"" and said that the German interior ministers' evaluation was based on ""a few sentences out of 500,000 pages of Scientological literature"". She added, ""I can also find hundreds of quotes in the Bible that are totalitarian but that doesn't mean I will demand the ban of Christianity."" In November 2008, the government abandoned its attempts"
"deeming it inappropriate for children and youth due to its depiction of religion, and charging that the book had ""anti-Semitic tendencies"". The Ministry announced in January 2007 that it was considering a ban on selling the book to minors. The Central Council of Jews in Germany supported such a ban. One criticism of the book was that Jews were illustrated in a more negative light than Christians or Muslims. The illustrations were compared to ""anti-Semitic caricatures from the Nazi era."" The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart filed suit, claiming that the author and illustrator of the book incited hatred—a claim"
"thousands of years before the Nazis adopted it' and claimed that the ban on the symbol would discriminate against Hindus. Germany eventually gave up the idea of banning the symbol after an international media campaign that was reported widely in over 25 countries. At a conference he had organised to discuss security for Hindus in partnership with the Metropolitan Police in February 2007, Kallidai alleged that many Muslim men were targeting young Hindu girls for conversion. This generated controversy with several Muslim organisations refuting the allegations made in the presence of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner at that time, Sir Ian"
"of the organization was out of the country at the time of the raids. DWR was banned by German authorities in November 2016. The Koran translation used by the group has been described as a ""particularly hardline interpretation,"" while the group itself, in response to being banned, claimed that this meant the Koran had been banned in Germany. The group continues to be active in the UK and abroad after being banned in Germany. Die Wahre Religion Die Wahre Religion (DWR, in English ""The True Religion"") is an Islamist Salafi organisation based in Germany that was founded in 2005 by"
"crucifix and the Jewish kippah. Five of these states that ban religious clothing, contain an exception for Christian symbols and clothing: Baden-Württemberg, Saarland, Hesse, Bavaria, and North Rhine-Westphalia. In Baden-Württemberg, the state prohibits Muslim teachers from wearing the headscarf, but allows teachers to wear Christian clothing, such as the nun's habit. The state courts upheld an appeal against the ban by several Muslim teachers, on the grounds of religious discrimination, since Catholic nuns are allowed to teach in full religious habit. The state government has appealed the decision. The regulation in North Rhine-Westphalia is similar to that in Baden-Württemberg. Bavaria"
"than 1%) include Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. The two largest churches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), have lost significant number of adherents. In 2016 the Catholic Church accounted for 28.5% and the Evangelical Church for 26.5% of the population. Other Christian churches and groups summed up to 3.3% with estimations for the Orthodox Church between 1.3% and 1.9%. Since the reunification of Germany, the number of non-religious people has grown and an estimated 36.2% of the country's population are not affiliated with any church or religion. The other religions make up to less"
"the Criminal Code to non-therapeutic circumcision of male children. Some observers said it could set a legal precedent that criminalizes the practice. Jewish and Muslim groups were outraged by the ruling, viewing it as trampling on freedom of religion. The German ambassador to Israel, Andreas Michaelis, told Israeli lawmakers that Germany was working to resolve the issue and that it doesn't apply at a national level, but instead only to the local jurisdiction of the court in Cologne. The Council of the Coordination of Muslims in Germany condemned the ruling, stating that it is ""a serious attack on religious freedom."""
"Irreligion in Germany Irreligion is prevalent in Germany. As of 2009, more Germans are non-believers in Eastern Germany than Western Germany. When taken overall, Germany is a remarkably secular nation, though in spite of this, many areas in Western Germany don't have demographics of irreligion comparable to that of several nearby European countries. Eastern Germany is perhaps the least religious region in the world. Atheism is embraced by young and old, though even more so by younger Germans. One study in September 2012 was unable to find a single person under 28 who believes in God. An explanation for this,"
"Germany regarding NRMs in 1998. The main point of critics against ""Sekten"" from the governmental side is that they propagate a concept of the ideal human (""Menschenbild "") which is very different of the concept underlying the ""Grundgesetz"" (Basic Law). For example, some cults may stress the inequality of social groups, races or sexes, and foster a culture where blind obedience and fundamentalism are welcomed. The ""Grundgesetz"", however, says that all people are equal and envisages people who are open-minded, discerning and tolerant. In 2002, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the German government had violated its constitution in its"
"Muslims in Germany support fundamentalist views. About 12% of Muslims in Germany identified with moral-religious criticism against Western societal values in combination with corporal punishment up to and including the death penalty. According to a 2012 poll, 72% of the Turks in Germany believe that Islam is the only true religion and 46% wish that one day more Muslims live in Germany than Christians. According to a 10-year survey by the University of Bielefeld, which dealt with different aspects of attitudes to Islam, ""distrust"" of Islam is widespread in Germany with only 19 percent of Germans believing that Islam is"
"German Faith Movement The German Faith Movement (""Deutsche Glaubensbewegung"") was a religious movement in Nazi Germany (1933–1945), closely associated with University of Tübingen professor Jakob Wilhelm Hauer. The movement sought to move Germany away from Christianity towards a religion based on Germanic paganism and Nazi ideas. The movement's ceremonies involved sermons, German classical music and political hymns. In his 1936 essay ""Wotan"" Swiss psychologist Carl Jung speaks of ""Ergriffenheit"", explained in the English version as ""a state of being seized or possessed"", and characterizes Germany as ""infected... rolling towards perdition"". However, Jung sees the German Faith Movement as ""decent and"
"are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites, Ahmadiyyas and other denominations. Other religions comprising less than one per cent of Germany's population are Buddhism with 270,000 adherents, Judaism with 200,000 adherents, and Hinduism with some 100,000 adherents. All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 adherents each. German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside Low German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian and English. To a lesser extent, it is also related to the North Germanic"
"German statistical office 9.1% of all newborns in Germany had Muslim parents in 2005. Islam is the largest minority religion in the country, with the Protestant and Roman Catholic confessions being the majority religions. There are between 2.1 and 4.7 million Muslims. The large majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish origin (63.2%), followed by smaller groups from Pakistan, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Arab countries, Iran and Afghanistan. Most Muslims live in Berlin and the larger cities of former West Germany. However, unlike in most other European countries, sizeable Muslim communities exist in some rural regions of Germany,"
"Army, the Christian Saints and the Seventh-day Adventist Church all disappeared from Germany, while astrologers, healers and fortune tellers were banned. The small pagan ""German Faith Movement"", which worshipped the sun and seasons, supported the Nazis. Many historians believed that Hitler and the Nazis intended to eradicate Christianity in Germany after winning victory in the war. Christianity has ancient roots among Germanic peoples dating to the missionary work of Columbanus and St. Boniface in the 6th–8th centuries. The Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther in 1517, divided the German population between a two-thirds majority of Protestants and a one-third minority of"
"Protestantism, the northeastern states of Germany are now mostly not religious (70%), with much of the people living there being agnostics and atheists. Immigrations in the late 20th and early 21st century have brought new religions into Germany, including Orthodox Christianity and Islam. Orthodox Christianity is practised among immigrated Greeks, Serbs, Russians, Romanians and other communities. Most Muslims are Sunnis and Alevis of Turkish origin, but there are a small number of Shi'a Muslims and other currents. Moreover, Germany has Europe's third-largest Jewish population (after France and the United Kingdom). German major religious bodies publish yearly updated records of their"
"to be able to offer religious education in Hessian state schools, but is allowed now to maintain their own cemeteries and have their members funds being collected by the German state's church tax system. It has been deemed as historical milestone and German daily ""Die Welt"" titled the event with ""Islam is a part of Germany now"", quoting a famous speech of former President Christian Wulff. Prominent German Ahmadi Muslims include: Ahmadiyya in Germany The Ahmadiyya are an Islamic movement that comprise a minority of Germany's Muslims, numbering some 35,000–45,000 adherents and found in 244 communities as of 2013. The"
"name ""West Germany"" has additional meanings. Christianity is the dominant religion of Western Germany, excluding Hamburg, which has a non-religious plurality. On the other hand is Irreligion is predominant in the Eastern part of Germany, considered to be the least religious region in the world. An exception is former West Berlin, that had a Christian pluarality in 2016 (44.4% Christian and 43.5% Unaffiliated). It also has a higher share of Muslims, or 8.5%, compared to former East Berlin, with only 1.5% self-declared Muslims as of 2016. In the referendum on the introduction of the elective area of ethics/religion, where the"
"Roman Catholics. Orthodox believers constituted 1.3%. Other religions accounted for 2.7%. According to the most recent data from 2016, the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church claimed respectively 28.5% and 27.5% of the population. Both large churches have lost significant numbers of adherents in recent years. In 2011, 33% of Germans were not members of officially recognised religious associations with special status. Irreligion in Germany is strongest in the former East Germany, which used to be predominantly Protestant before state atheism, and major metropolitan areas. Islam is the second largest religion in the country. In the 2011 census, 1.9% of"