A new study from a migration think-tank shows that Islam has become a major religion in Germany because of mass migration.
The new annual report of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR), called, “Many gods, a State: Religious pluralism and participation in immigration country” has announced that Islam is now a major part of German society.
Chairman of the SVR has said that, “Germany has become demographically a multi-religious country,” due primarily to the mass migration of Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East, Die Welt reports.
According to figures from the paper around 73 percent of the new migrants who have come to Germany since the beginning of the migrant crisis have been Muslims and only 13 percent were Christians. The decline in practising Christians has also had a large impact in the rise of Islam in Germany.
In 1970 almost 95 percent of West Germans said they were either Roman Catholic or Protestant. As of now the figure is somewhere around 65 percent.
Immigration from the Balkans and Russia has also diversified the number of Christian denominations in Germany with far more Orthodox Christians and others living in Germany as opposed to the 1970’s.
One area that the report noted especially was the rise of fundamentalism in religious circles. The report said Muslims were especially at risk of importing fundamentalist attitudes while migrant Christians are thought to be much less influenced by fundamental beliefs.
“Given the importance of the subject future research should be more free from taboos,” the report said which echoes the fears of many police in Germany and Austria who are afraid of being called racists for reporting Muslim migrant crime.
While the report claims Islam is now a major part of German society they revealed that the majority of non-immigrant Germans do not agree. When asked if they think Islam is a part of Germany, 53 percent of the correspondents answered no, compared to those of a Turkish immigrant background who said overwhelmingly that Islam was part of German culture.
The SVR downplayed the link between Islamic radicalisation and terrorism saying that terrorists were more influenced by , “factors such as discrimination, social marginalization, unemployment or lack of educational success,” though many Islamic terrorists such as UK student Tarik Hassane have come from comfortable middle class backgrounds.
The Alternatrive for Germany (AfD) has rallied against what it sees as the Islamisation of Germany, proposing to ban minarets and the public calls to prayer from German streets. Hungarian Prime Minster Viktor Orban has also spoken out against Islamisation saying that the Hungarian constitution simply would not allow it.