Religion in Germany

Religion and its practice form an imporant part of the German Constitution. According to the Constitution of Germany, freedom of faith and religion is guaranteed to every individual. Discrimination based on difference of religious opinion is prohibited by the Constitution.

Germany’s main religion is Christianity, dominated by the two strands of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

Roman Catholicism came into Germany through the work of St Boniface. It made a lot of converts and, aided by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, spread rapidly in the twelfth and thirteenth century.

In 1517, Martin Luther protested papal authority and brought about a revolution in the Church by his proclamations. Thus Protestantism came into the world under the leadership of Martin Luther and became the second major religion in Germany.

In the present time, about 68 per cent of the population of Germany is Christian, with the population of Roman Catholics and Protestants evenly divided.

There are several large and small Christian sects in Germany also. There are some hundred thousand Orthodox Christians who are mostly Serb and Greek immigrants. Almost four lakh of New Apostolic Christians form part of the Christian population of Germany. Besides these, there are smaller Christian sects also.

Germany also has a minority population of Muslims who form the largest minority religious group in the country. There is a 3.2 per cent minority population of Muslims in Germany, according to the US Department of State’s report of 2006.

Following Islam in Germany are the minority religious communities of Buddhism and Judaism, each with 0.25 per cent of followers. Germany’s Jewish population is the third largest among that of the European countries. The population of minority Jews and Muslims is mostly concentrated in the big cities of Germany like Berlin.

An interesting fact about religion in Germany is that of the seven Bahá'í Houses of Worship existing in the world, Germany is home to one of these Houses of Worship. Germany’s only Bahá'í House of Worship is at the foothills of the Taunus Mountains in the village of Langenhain near Frankfurt.