Worried about the fate of the "Christian West"? Then I have a simple suggestion for you: in future, let′s count all Germans who mark Christmas in some way as "Christians". And voila – at a stroke, the whole Federal Republic, including the new Federal states, would once again become majority Christian!
If you are smiling at this point, then you have spotted the error. In accordance with classical religious sociology, Christians are only counted as such when they have been baptised and become members of a church, to which they usually make contributions or pay church taxes.
And so in the national statistics, but also in respected international surveys like the Pew Institute′s, everyone who has not been baptised, or who has left their church, is classed as being unaffiliated with any religion. Unaffiliated PEGIDA demonstrators do not become Christians in the statistics just because they sight-read Christmas carols "in defence of the West".
Islam has no formal entry and exit
So far, so good. But unfortunately this selectivity, which makes the process of secularisation visible, has not so far been used on other religions. You are born a Jew, a Hindu or a Muslim and no special ritual or membership of an association is necessary to continue to belong to these religions. Furthermore: apart from converting to another religion, there is no authority to whom you can declare that you are formally "leaving"! Once a Muslim, always a Muslim, at least "culturally" – even if religion now plays hardly any role in your life, or your attitude in private could more accurately be described as agnostic or atheist.
One consequence of this "detail" is that statistics for Europe and the world contrast a supposed "Islamisation" with a "shrinking of the Church" and "forecast" that from as early as 2050 or 2070, there will be "more Muslims than Christians" worldwide!
In fact, these comparisons are statistical nonsense – and would only make sense if either all those whose culture is Christian were counted as Christian, or only Muslims actively participating in organised religion were counted as Muslim. Empirical questionnaires, such as, for example, the most recent one for the German Islamic Conference in 2009, show that only a minority of Muslims in Germany now "pray every day", to say nothing of praying the prescribed 5 times a day.
Substantial percentages, by contrast, say they pray "seldom" or "not at all". And even studies like these – and, for example, the Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor survey – rely on people volunteering information. Anyone who does not describe themselves as a Muslim (any more), or has no particular affiliation (Sunni, Shia or Alewite), is usually not asked! And so these questionnaires in turn only reach those Muslims who are still practising and this information is in turn projected onto the whole "Muslim" population.
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