Changes

On December 18, 2007, the Bertelsmann Foundation published a survey on religious convictions and practice in the country, which failed to confirm the commonly held belief that the country was becoming more secular. Fully 70% of adult respondents said they were religious, and of those, 18% said they were "deeply religious" and regularly attend worship services, up from 15% in earlier studies. In the 18-29 age group, 41% expressed a belief in eternal life and a divine being, more than in any other age bracket. Roman Catholics report that 15% of nominal Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass. Seventeen years after reunification, the country's eastern part remains far more secular than the west. The Bertelsmann Foundation found former easterners self-identified as 36% religious and 8% deeply religious, in contrast with 78% and 21%, respectively, for those from the west. Only 5 to 10% of eastern citizens belong to a religious organization, but numbers are increasing among non-Lutheran Protestants in the east.  

On December 18, 2007, the Bertelsmann Foundation published a survey on religious convictions and practice in the country, which failed to confirm the commonly held belief that the country was becoming more secular. Fully 70% of adult respondents said they were religious, and of those, 18% said they were "deeply religious" and regularly attend worship services, up from 15% in earlier studies. In the 18-29 age group, 41% expressed a belief in eternal life and a divine being, more than in any other age bracket. Roman Catholics report that 15% of nominal Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass. Seventeen years after reunification, the country's eastern part remains far more secular than the west. The Bertelsmann Foundation found former easterners self-identified as 36% religious and 8% deeply religious, in contrast with 78% and 21%, respectively, for those from the west. Only 5 to 10% of eastern citizens belong to a religious organization, but numbers are increasing among non-Lutheran Protestants in the east.  

There have been recent reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, and practice. Right-wing extremists committed politically motivated crimes against minorities including religious groups, as well as anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic acts. Cemeteries were desecrated, and Muslim communities sometimes suffered societal discrimination when building new mosques and finding allotments of land for cemeteries; however, many members of Government and civil society initiated discussions about Muslim integration and expressed their commitment to addressing the issue. The Roman Catholic and Evangelical churches continued to use "sect commissioners" to warn the public of dangers from some minority religious groups such as the Unification Church, Scientologists, Universal Life (Universelles Leben), and Transcendental Meditation practitioners. Scientologists continue to find "sect filters" used against them in employment as well as discrimination in political party membership.  

Depending on the state, a nonreligious ethics course or study hall may be available for students not wishing to participate in religious instruction.

 

Islamic classes in public schools continued to be a controversial topic but were increasingly common throughout the country, except in areas where the Muslim population was too small to support them. Although no Muslim group had "public law corporation" status that would entitle them to offer Islamic courses, state governments recognized the need and demand and worked with local Muslim organizations to establish such courses. On March 13, 2008, the Interior Minister was quoted in the press indicating that the Federal Government and Muslim community leaders had reached an agreement in principle that schools should offer classes in Islam taught in German alongside the other religions, but he noted that it would take time to implement the agreement.

 

 

There are an estimated 900,000 Muslim students in the public school system; Islamic education in schools is offered in some states. At the start of the 2006‑07 school year, authorities in Baden‑Wuerttemberg established a two‑course system: one for Sunni and Shi'a students and another for Alevis. State officials and Muslim groups in Baden‑Wuerttemberg agreed upon the system and the initial reactions were positive. Some states offered similar programs while others were working with Muslim leaders to establish a uniform curriculum. Later in the year, universities in Frankfurt, Ludwigsburg, Karlsruhe, and Weingarten began offering training courses in the teaching of Islam.

 

The legal obligation that children attend school, confirmed by the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice in 2006, continued to be a problem for some home-schooling advocates, such as Baptists from the FSU in Eastern Westphalia, due to concerns about sex education and the teaching of evolution. On August 2, 2007, the Stuttgart Administrative Court dismissed the case brought by several Russian‑German immigrant families belonging to the Baptist group Gemeinde Gottes who had petitioned in 2004 to send their children to a private religious school run by members of their community. The court ruled that the teaching staff was insufficiently qualified. Other home-schooling cases remain in the court system.

===Data===

===Data===