Trier, Germany, 4
October (ENI)--Islam is part of a modern, changing Germany, the
country's president, Christian Wulff, told the nation in an address on
the 20th anniversary of the reunification of the once divided nation.
"Christianity
is, of course, part of Germany. Judaism is, of course, part of Germany.
This is our Judeo-Christian history. But, now, Islam is also part of
Germany," the president told the assembled dignitaries in the northern
city of Bremen, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, on 4 October.
Before
his appointment as president in July 2010, Wulff, as Minister President
of Lower Saxony, appointed the first Muslim state cabinet minister in
Germany.
"When German Muslims write to me to tell me 'You are our
president' - then I answer wholeheartedly: Yes, of course I am your
president! And with the same dedication and conviction of which I am the
president of all the people who live in Germany," Wulff said.
Wulff
spoke about the challenges facing a multicultural Germany in times of
rapid social and global changes. "Twenty years after reunification, we
stand before the huge task of finding new solidarity in a Germany that
is part of a swiftly changing world," he said.
For her part,
Merkel, endorsed Wulff's words, but also expressed reservations with
regard to the position of Islam in German culture. Merkel demanded that
Muslims living in Germany also conform to "fundamental German values,"
saying there can be no leeway on the issue.
In recent weeks an
intense debate has raged in Germany about the willingness of Muslim
immigrant to integrate and learn the language. A book claiming that
Turkish Muslims are not willing to integrate reached the top of the
non-fiction bestseller list.
"The future belongs to those nations
who are open to cultural diversity, to new ideas and who do not shy
away from debating with foreigners," Wulff noted.
He also paid
tribute to the role the churches played 20 years ago in enabling the
peaceful revolution that led to reunification. "The churches gave a
shelter to the new, courage for freedom," he said.
In the autumn
of 1989 prayer meetings for peace grew from week to week, ending in mass
demonstrations against the totalitarian East German state.
"The growing together of German unity was especially an act of great solidarity, " the
chairperson
of the German Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Robert
Zollitsch of Freiburg, and the Rev. Nikolaus Schneider, the chairperson
of the Protestant umbrella, the Evangelical Churches in Germany, said in
a joint statement on 1 October.
Citing the book of Luke (1:37)
in the Bible, "For nothing is impossible with God," they said the
impossible became possible in late 1989. They added that the unity of
Germany “has to be understood as part of a pan-European unity. The
integration of a united Germany into a reinforced and extended European
Union is maybe the biggest merit of the German unification," they
concluded.
About two thirds of the German population belongs to a
Christian church. Before 1989, West Germany had a majority Roman
Catholic population, while East Germany was predominantly Protestant.
Today there are 25 million Catholics and 24 million Protestants in the
country. While people of Turkish origin account for 2.4 percent of
Germany's people, Muslim's account for 3.7 percent of the 82 million
population.
(c) ENINews Ecumenical News International Reproduction permitted only by media subscribers and provided ENI is acknowledged as the source.