16 June 2016

Half of Turkish Germans hold Islam above state law

The survey provides an often contradictory picture of social attitudes among Germany’s 2.7 million people of Turkish origin.

A total of 47 percent of the 1,201 respondents said that “following the tenets of my religion is more important to me than the laws of the land in which I live.”

But the study also reveals that this viewpoint is much more firmly held by the first generation (57 percent agreement) - Turks who emigrated to Germany - than by their offspring (36 percent agreement among 2nd and 3rd generation Turks).

One in three respondents, meanwhile, agreed that “Muslims should strive to return to a societal order like that in the time of Muhammad.”

Once again, this point of view was more strongly held in the first generation (36 percent) than in the second and third (27 percent).

Twenty percent said that the threat which the West poses to Islam justified violence. Seven percent said violence was a justifiable means of spreading Islam. [The Local] Read more