Half of Germany sees Islam as a threat, survey claims
- The twice-yearly Religion Monitor report found 50 percent distrustful of Islam
- But it found only 13 per cent of those surveyed want to put a stop to immigration
- Distrust of Islam is stronger in eastern Germany, where far fewer Muslims live
- 30 per cent in east don’t want Muslim neighbours – only 16 per cent in the west
One in every two Germans sees Islam as a threat, according to a survey published on Thursday.
The latest twice-yearly ‘Religion Monitor’ poll by the Bertelsmann Foundation found that 50 per cent of those interviewed were suspicious of the religion, Bild reported.
But only 13 per cent of respondants wanted immigration halted, the foundation’s religion expert Yasemin El-Menouar was keen to point out.
Members of the Identitarian Movement protest on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, with a banner reading ‘secure borders – secure future’ in August 2016
‘Widespread scepticism of Islam’ did ‘not necessarily equate to Islamophobia,’ she said.
‘Apparently, many people currently view Islam less as a religion, but above all as a political ideology and therefore exempt it from religious tolerance,’ El-Menouar said.
Some 5 million Muslims live in Germany – 1.5 million of them in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In eastern Germany, where fewer Muslims live, attitudes were more negative.
Some 57 per cent of easteners saw Islam as a threat, compared to 50 per cent in the west.
And 30 per cent of those in the east went as far as to say they did not want a Muslim for a neighbour, as opposed to 16 per cent in the west.

An East German Trabant car with a sticker showing Eurosceptic, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD) candidate for Goerlitz mayor Sebastian Wippel
While the study’s authors expressed concern about its findings, attitudes towards Muslims do not seem to be hardening over time.
The April 2013 Religion Monitor report found that 51 per cent of Germans saw Islam as a threat.
Only a third of those surveyed had a positive view of the religion.
By contrast there were majorities favourable to Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (second right) chats with locals, including members of the Turkish community, at the ‘Open Society Day’ at Wilhelm-Hauff School in Wedding borough of the German capital Berlin on June 15, 2019
The survey also polled attitudes to democracy, finding that 89 per cent favoured it as a political system 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and on the 70th anniversary of the Basic Law, West Germany’s constitution.
Broken down by faith, 93 per cent of Christians and 91 per cent of Muslims favoured democracy, but only 83 per cent of those of no religion.
‘Members of any religion can be good democrats,’ said study author and religious sociologist Gert Pickel.