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RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN GERMANY , German reformer, 1529]] Christianity is the major religion, with Protestants (particularly in the north and east) comprising 33% of the population and Roman Catholics (particularly in the south and west) also 33%. In total more than 55 million people officially belong to a Christian denomination, although most of them take no part in church life except at such events as Wedding s and Funeral s. Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church In Germany . Independent and Congregational Church es exist in all larger towns and many smaller ones, but most such churches are small. Roman Catholicism was - besides the Jewish faith - the sole religion of the country in the 15th Century , but the Reformation changed this drastically. In 1517 Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church as he saw it as a corruption of Christian faith. Through this, he altered the course of European and world history and established Protestantism . Before World War II , about two-thirds of the German population was Protestant and one-third was Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany especially, Protestants dominated. In the separated West Germany between 1945 and 1990 , Catholics had a small majority. In eastern Germany both religious observance and affiliation are much lower than in the west after forty years of s, religious weddings and funerals is also lower than in the West. About 30% of the total population are officially religiously unaffiliated. In the East this number is also considerably higher. Approximately 3.7 Million Muslims (mostly of Turkish descent) live in Germany. This figure includes the different denominations of Islam as well as religions thought to be forms of Islam by most Germans who are even aware of them, such as Alevites . Lately there have been heated discussions about the question of whether Muslim women working in public service, such as schoolteachers, should be allowed to wear headscarves to work or not. Besides this there are a few hundred thousand Orthodox Christians (mostly Greek and Serbia n immigrants), 400,000 New Apostolic Christians , numerous other small groups. The government of Germany does not accept Church Of Scientology 's claim to be a religion but asserts that it is a business entreprise and as such denies Tax Exemption . Scientology is also generally considered a totalitarian Cult . This however does not restrict the group's activities in Germany. This classification has led to complaints in the United States Of America , but the United States Congress did not pass a resolution in 1997 related to "discrimination by the German Government against members of minority religious groups" that mentioned only Scientology-related examples of discrimination. Today Germany, especially its capital Berlin , has the fastest growing Jewish community worldwide. Some ten thousands of Jews from the former Eastern Bloc , mostly from ex- Soviet Union countries, settled in Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall . This is mainly due to a German Government policy which basically grants an immigration ticket to anyone from the CIS and the Baltic States with Jewish heritage, and the fact that today's Germans are seen as significantly more accepting of Jews than many people in the ex-Soviet realm. Some of the about 60,000 long-time resident German Jews have expressed some mixed feelings about this immigration that they perceive as making them a minority not only in their own country but also in their own community; but largely the integration seems to be working out. Prior to Nazism , about 600,000 Jews lived in Germany, most of them long-time resident families. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN GERMANY The German Constitution guarantees freedom of Faith and Religion . It also states that no one may be Discriminated against due to their faith or religious opinions. However, unlike some other countries, cooperation between the state and religious communities is entirely in keeping with the German constitution. Religious communities that are of considerable size and stability and are loyal to the constitution can be recognized as "corporations under public law". This gives them certain privileges, for example being able to give religious instruction in state schools to adherents' children and having membership fees collected by the German ''Finanzamt'' (the German equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service ) or by themselves. Such '' Church Tax '' is levied if a person lists a religion on their tax form or is listed as member in the population registry. It amounts to between 8 or 9% of the income tax. The status mainly applies to the Roman Catholic Church , the mainline Protestant EKD , and Jewish communities. There have been numerous discussions of allowing other religious groups like Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslims into this system as well. The Muslim efforts were hampered by the Muslims' own disorganized state in Germany, with many small rivaling organizations and no central leadership, which does not fit well into a legal frame that was originally created with well-organized, large Christian churches in mind. In 2005 the local government in the city of Paderborn became embroiled in a controversy whereby a number of Baptist families refused to send their children to any mainstream school or accepted substitute, preferring Homeschooling with a strong religious theme. It is a requirement of German law that every child be educated in a state school or an acceptable alternative. The local government acted to force the parents to comply with the law, but to no avail - firstly warnings, then fines, then brief custodial sentences did little to deter them. Eventually, in August 2005, the city took the parents to court, and the parents lost custody of the children. The legal argument behind this decision was the balancing between the religious freedom of the parents and the freedom to be educated and to have equal opportunities in life of the children. This was preceded by a similar case in the nearby city of Gütersloh in 2004 . CULT S, SECT S AND NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT S More than in most other countries the churches are actively involved in disseminating information and warnings about Sect s and Cult s (the German word ''Sekte'' is used in both senses) and New Religious Movement s. The state churches are generally regarded as experts regarding religious subjects and such information is expected from them by the public. In public opinion, minor religious groups are often referred to as ''Sekten'', that can both refer to Destructive Cult s but also to all religious movements which are not Christian or different from the Roman Catholicism and the mainstream Protestantism. Mainstream Orthodox Christians, Jews and Muslims are usually not referred to as ''Sekten'' either. When classifying religious groups, the Roman Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant EKD use a three-step of "Churches", "free-churches" and ''Sekten'' {Link without Title} # ''Kirchen'' (churches) is the term generally applied to the Roman Catholic Church, the EKD 's member churches, and the Orthodox Churches. # ''Freikirchen'' (free-churches) is the term generally applied to Protestant organisations outside of the EKD, e.g. Baptist s, Methodists , independent Lutherans, Pentecostals , Seventh-day Adventists . However, the Old Catholics can be referred to as a free-church as well. # Sekten is the term for religious groups which do not see themselves as part of a major religion (but maybe as the only real believers of a major religion). A common feature of ''Sekten'' is that they make it difficult for their members to quit, if they decide to do so. Examples of groups called ''Sekten'' are Mormons , Scientology and Hare Krishna . Every Protestant ''Landeskirche'' (church whose canonical jurisdiction extends over one or several states, or ''Länder'') and Catholic episcopacy has a ''Sektenbeauftragte'' (''Sekten'' referee) where information about religious movements may be obtained. DEMOGRAPHICS About 54.2 million Germans (68 %) are Christians. About 24.4 million Germans (29.6 %) are non-religious or atheist. The second largest religion is Islam with ca. 3.3 million adherents (4 %) followed by Buddhism and Judaism, both with around 200,000 adherents (ca. 0.25 %). Hinduism has some 90,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 (or less than 0.05%) adherents. Religions in Germany: Listed are 2006 estimates by the ''Religionswissenschaftlicher Medien- Informationsdienst e. V.'' (REMID) {Link without Title} for groups with more than 10,000 adherents:
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