German Religions I

The religions in Germany are:

1. Roman Catholicism
2. Protestantism
3. Judaism
4. Islamism

Protestants VS Roman Catholics 

There was a religious war in Germany which lasted about 30 years. The war was between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. These differences in beliefs separated Germany into two – Roman Catholicism in Southern and Western German states, and Protestantism in north-eastern and central states of Germany.

Before WWII, two-thirds of the German population was Protestant and the rest were Roman Catholic.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, he abolished denominational schools, and imposed Roman Catholic beliefs into Germany. This greatly displeased many of the denominational groups. Hence, under the leadership of Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the believers of Lutheranism attempted to stop the church from being taken over by Hitler. However, they were all executed.

The WWII’s refugees of 12 million people settled in whichever areas that they could find a job. This meant that Catholics settled in Protestant areas and vice versa. This has lead to a peace between both Protestants and Catholics as they learnt how to work together on local, regional and even national levels. This also gave rise to mixed religion marriages, which significantly marked the acceptance of differences between both religions. 

In the next post, each individual religion of Germany will be looked deeper into details.

Bibliography:

Berstein, E. (2004). Religion. In E. Berstein, Culture and Customs of Germany (pp. 81-95). Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Gordeeva, T. (2009). Religion in Germany. Retrieved 6 December, 2010, from German Culture: http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/facts/bl_religion.htm