Is Germany selling churches?

Doaa Emam

A Pakistani has revived controversy in Germany after posting three photos on Facebook: one of a purchase contract for the church and the other two showing him and another person praying inside the church, which will be turned into a mosque and Islamic center in the city of Hagen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Violent responses

Right-wing extremist and populist social media pages, forums, and websites responded to the above-mentioned post by warning of increased Islamization in Germany and that Christian churches are becoming mosques, with church bells falling silent while the call to prayer is raised from loudspeakers of mosques.

Germany tops the list of European countries selling the most churches. The 1,700-square meter Evangelische Notkirche Johannes church in Dortmund, the most prominent of these churches, was bought by the Turkish Islamic Union (DITIB) 10 years ago and is now called the Dortmund Mosque Center (Merkez Camii).

Germany sells and Turkey buys

The Kapernaumkirche church in Hamburg was purchased in 2012 and turned into a mosque. DITIB controls these mosques and aims to teach children Turkish language, history and principles of religious sciences, as well as to provide young people with the Islamic sciences according to the curricula of the imams and preachers in Turkey.

Last September, the Al-Nour Mosque opened in Hamburg, northern Germany, which had previously been a church. It was the first time that a church belonging to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) federation was converted into a Muslim prayer space. Most of the churches sold are neither Catholic nor Protestant churches, but are independent churches.

According to the extreme right in Germany, Muslims do not belong to the German identity culturally, even if they have citizenship and are assimilated into society. They also consider the spread of Islamic appearances such as veils and beards not to be compatible with German society and that the presence of Muslims increases the chances of terrorists developing in the country, especially with the increase in the number of terrorist attacks recently.

The “Alternative for Germany” party is the most populist right-wing party. It believes that Islam does not belong in Germany and that allowing the existence of Muslims in Berlin constitutes the Islamization of society. Meanwhile, the German “Identity” movement has begun initiatives to demand that Germans should be the majority in their country in the face of Muslim immigrants, calling for Muslims to be separated in places specific to them, so as not to change the face known to Germany.