German bigotry shifting from race to religion

[cbayer]

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20130107-47185.html#.UOsHgEIZfzI



Published: 7 Jan 13 13:52 CET
A new study warns that Islamophobia in Germany is becoming culturally acceptable, as bigotry leaves the confines of ethnicity and moves towards religious bias against Muslims.


It's no longer 'the Turks' but 'the Muslims',” Wilhelm Heitmeyer, head of the institute for research of interdisciplinary conflict and violence at Bielefeld University told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Monday. Research has led him to be concerned general xenophobia had given way to a growing rejection of Islam in Germany.

His theory is not new – a study from Münster university found that in 2010, 66 percent of western Germans and 74 percent of eastern Germans had a negative attitude towards Muslims.

And a more recent study from the Allensbach Institute suggested that this had not changed over the past two years, as only 22 percent of Germans asked said they agreed with Germany's ex-President Christian Wulff's statement that Islam, like Christianity, was a part of Germany.

Heitmeyer also found that Islamophobia seemed to exist not only in the far-right, but was also present in more left-leaning and centrist circles. The sentiment was identifiable throughout the country, from the highest echelons of society to the lowest.

more at link

[WCGreen]

1. I am so glad we don't ever fall into the same stereotypes that Germans have....

You know, we wouldn't want to take their lead on who is acceptable and who is not...

[PuppyBismark]

2. So, isn't this one of the reasons so many people came to America just a few centuries ago?

Last edited Mon Jan 7, 2013, 03:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Germany seems to be pretty good at religious persecutions, there is also that bit about the Jews in the 20th century.

[cbayer]

3. Many people did come here to escape religious persecutions and it is, despite problems

with religious bigotry, the most religiously and culturally eclectic place on earth.

But our history is by no means sterling.

[dimbear]

4. My forebears left Germany in 1856, when we were still the Dunkelbar family.

There's an umlaut over that last 'a.'

My question is this: where is Islam becoming more popular among non-Muslims instead of less popular among non-Muslims?

[cbayer]

5. More popular? Not sure what you are asking.

I do see increasing tolerance and acceptance in parts of the US and more politically active religious organizations including Muslim groups.

[dimbear]

6. Where in the non-Islamic world is Islam gaining more approval?

I'm guessing that their more radical components and the attention that they garner would make that answer almost nowhere.

They have very bad PR. Witness the uproar here over the acquisition of a tiny TV network by Al Jazeera.

If I were to list places that are dead certainly in the no camp, I would begin with France, Italy, and Spain. Germany you already noted.

[cbayer]

7. None of those countries have been shining examples of religious tolerance.

This one, on the other hand, has been.

[dimbear]

8. In a sense. In all our long history, the US govt has only fought one war against

a domestic religion, Mormonism. It was desultory and relatively bloodless, all the casualties being innocent bystanders. The state actions against the Mormons, OTOH, were far more bloody and grievous.

Also the European nations have far longer histories, that gives them an unfair leg up.

[okasha]

9. THe US government also went to war

against Native Amerucan religions, culminating in the massacre at Woiunded Knee.

[dimbear]

11. Good point. All of those would run the count up pretty high.

They're not noted in the history books as religious wars, but of course they were.

[lunasun]

12. Ghost dancing

The Ghost Dance was a Native American religious movement that occurred in the late 1800s, often practiced by the Sioux Indians.
This dance was given this name by white settlers who were frightened by this spiritual dance, saying that it had a ghostly aura around it, hence the name.
This started the push to bring US troops into the Dakotas where the Sioux were most prominent and where the Ghost Dance was being practiced the most

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dance_War

[Deep13]

10. You mean shifting back to religion. nt