http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-politicians-weigh-in-on-islam-s-role-in-germany-a-837563.html
Why Islam Is an Integral Part of Germany
A Commentary by Bernhard Zand
German politicians have lately shown a penchant for weighing in on whether Islam belongs to Germany. A clear understanding of history, however, is often missing from the debate. In recent days, two prominent German Christians offered up their thoughts to the country’s Muslims on their search for identity. Markus Söder, the finance minister of the state of Bavaria, surprised an audience of Turkish immigrants by saying that Islam is an “integral part of Bavaria.”
Then, German President Joachim Gauck told the influential weekly Die Zeit that he shares the intentions of his predecessor, former President Christian Wulff. Gauck slightly re-formulated Wulff’s most famous sentence by saying: “The Muslims who live here belong to Germany.”That now makes five such prominent voices weighing in on the ongoing debate. Wulff, from whom Gauck has now distanced himself, was first. He said: “By now, Islam also belongs to Germany.”
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich contradicted him, saying: “That Islam is part of Germany is a fact that cannot be proven by history.” He said that Germany’s identity has been “shaped by Christianity and the Enlightenment.” Then, senior parliamentary conservative Volker Kauder maintained that “Islam is not a part of our tradition and identity.”
So which is it? Who or what belongs to Germany? Islam? The Enlightenment? Muslims? Christianity?
Fundamental Lack of Education
When Konrad Adenauer, in his first major speech as chancellor in 1949, committed himself to the “spirit of Western Christian culture,” not much of that culture remained. The Western world, led by Germany, had managed to destroy the achievements of centuries of humanism and the Enlightenment in just a few years.
Muslims in Germany, many of whom have immigrated from the Orient, know that; most of them have studied at German schools or universities. And it surprises them how men like Kauder, Friedrich and Gauck can so elegantly overlook the dark sides of Occident, while at the same time claiming the bright sides for themselves alone. The Western world, says Aiman Mazyek, the head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, stands on “Muslim, Eastern legs.”
