A new poll has revealed that a large majority of Germans don’t believe Islam is a part of Germany, and many fear Islamisation.
A recent survey of 2,054 Germans by the Insa-Institut on behalf of the Bild newspaper regarding the role of Islam in German society has revealed that the majority of Germans don’t believe Islam is a part of German culture.
61 per cent of those surveyed said that they were against recognizing Islam as something that was essentially German. Contrasted to the majority were only 22 per cent of those polled who believed the opposite Die Welt reports.
The poll was conducted to shed light on what many in the public think of the recent debate between the mainstream politicians and the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD). It was former German President Christian Wulff who typified the mainstream political opinion when he said, “Islam is a part of Germany,” a claim later repeated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
This is a view that has been rebuffed by the AfD who have recently voted on a new platform at their recent party conference which states clearly that Islam is not a thoroughly German belief.
A few mainstream politicians have conceded to the view of the AfD like Christian Democratic Union parliamentary leader Volker Kauder who said that Muslims belong in Germany but like the AfD he believe that public displays of Islam like minarets should not dominate German skylines and that the calls to prayer should not be heard across all German cities.
Eastern Germany, the home of the PEGIDA movement and the region in which the AfD have had their greatest electoral success voted the most consistently against Islam. 65.7 per cent of Eastern Germans polled rejected the idea of a German Islam and among supporters of the AfD the number rose to over 90 per cent.
The poll also asked Germans their views and fear of a potential Islamisation of their country. Almost half of those polled (46 per cent) think think Germany is undergoing, or is at risk of becoming, Islamised. Around 39 per cent have no fear at all that Germany will become more Islamic in the future.
A similar poll was conducted in France earlier this week which saw French from the left and right end of the political spectrum reject the idea of Islam in general, following the Paris and Brussels terror attacks. The poll showed a huge change of attitudes in France compared to the past. In 1989 when a similar poll was conducted around 33 per cent of those surveyed were favourable to new mosques being built compared to now when the number has shrunk to only 13 per cent.
In Eastern Europe Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban rejected the idea of Islamisation in his country entirely. He said that the constitution of Hungary forbid Islamisation saying it protects Hungary’s culture and language and added, “we have the right to choose whom we want and don’t want to live with.”