Religion in Berlin

Religion in Berlin – 2010
Non religious
  
 60.0%
EKD Protestants
  
 18.7%
Roman Catholics
  
 9.1%
Muslims
  
 8.1%
Other Christian
  
 2.7%
Other religion
  
 1.0%

More than 60 percent of Berlin residents have no registered religious affiliation and Berlin has been described as the "atheist capital of Europe".[1] As for the other nearly 40 percent, 30.5 percent identify with some form of Christianity, 8.1 percent are Muslim, 0.3 percent are Jewish, and 0.9 percent are another religion. Berlin is considered to contain one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in the world due to return migration of descendants of German Jews.

Christianity

Berliner Dom, held by a congregation and the Protestant umbrella UEK.

Evangelical Church

The largest denominations as of 2010 are the Protestant regional church body of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO), a united church comprising mostly Lutheran, a few reformed and United Protestant congregations. EKBO is a member of both the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Union Evangelischer Kirchen (UEK) claiming 18.7 percent of the city population.[2]

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church claims 9.1 percent of the city's registered members.[2] 0.9% of Berliners belong to other religions.[3] Berlin is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Berlin; the EKBO's elected chairperson is called a bishop.

Orthodox Church

About 2.7 percent of the population identify with other Christian denominations, mostly Eastern Orthodox.[4] Berlin is also the seat of Orthodox cathedrals, such as the Cathedral of St. Boris the Baptist, one of the two seats of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Western and Central Europe, and the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral of the Diocese of Berlin (Patriarchate of Moscow).

Judaism

Approximately 80 percent of the 12,000 registered Jews (0.3 percent of the total population;[4] or up to 50,000)[5] now residing in Berlin have come from the former Soviet Union (now Russia). Additionally, Berlin is considered to contain one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in the world due to Russian, Israeli and German Jewish immigrants, whose ancestors fled Germany during World War II.[6][7]

Jewish life in the capital Berlin is prospering, the Jewish community is growing, the Centrum Judaicum and several synagogues—including the largest in Germany[8]—have been renovated and opened, and Berlin's annual week of Jewish culture and the Jewish Cultural Festival in Berlin, held for the 21st time, featuring concerts, exhibitions, public readings and discussions[9][10] can only partially explain why Rabbi Yitzhak Ehrenberg of the orthodox Jewish community in Berlin states: "Orthodox Jewish life is alive in Berlin again."

Islam

Berlin has 76 mosques. 8.1 percent of the population are Muslims.[11] The Berlin Mosque (German: Berliner Moschee, Wilmersdorfer Moschee, Ahmadiyya Moschee) in Berlin is Germany's oldest mosque in use, situated on Brienner Straße 7-8 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. It was designed by K. A. Hermann and was built between 1923 and 1925. Berlin Mosque, which has two 90 feet (27 m) tall minarets, was heavily damaged in World War II. The two minarets were rebuilt in 1999/2001.

Places of worship

There are many places of worship in Berlin for the variety of religions and denominations. For examples there are 36 Baptist congregations (within Union of Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Germany), 29 New Apostolic Churches, 15 United Methodist churches, eight Free Evangelical Congregations, four Churches of Christ, Scientist (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 11th), six congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), an Old Catholic church and even an Anglican church. It also has among others two Buddhist temples. The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church has eight parishes of different sizes in Berlin.[12] There are also a number of humanist and atheist groups in the city.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Connolly, Kate (26 April 2009). "Atheist Berlin to decide on religion's place in its schools". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  2. 1 2 Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland: Kirchenmitgliederzahlen am 31. Dezember 2010. EKD, 2011, (PDF; 0,45 MB) Abgerufen am 10. März 2012.
  3. ↑ Statistisches Jahrbuch für Berlin 2010. Abgerufen am 10. März 2012.
  4. 1 2 Amt für Statistik Berlin Brandenburg: Die kleine Berlin-Statistik 2010. (PDF-Datei). Abgerufen am 4. Januar 2011.
  5. ↑ http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/statis/login.do?guest=guest&db=EWRBEE
  6. ↑ http://www.berlin-judentum.de/index-e.htm
  7. ↑ Germany: Berlin Facing Challenge Of Assimilating Russian-Speaking Jews. Radio Free Europe. 6 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "World | Europe | Major German synagogue reopened". BBC News. 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  9. ↑ Die Bundesregierung (Federal government of Germany): "Germany's largest synagogue officially reopened." 31 August 2007
  10. ↑ Axelrod, Toby. "Cantor who led Berlin's Jews for past 50 years dies." j.. 21 January 2000
  11. ↑ Tabelle 11; die tatsächliche Anzahl von Muslimen kann anhand dieser Gesamtzahl, die auch Angehörige anderer Religionen (z. B. Minderheiten aus den Herkunftsstaaten, Deutsche mit einseitigem Migrationshintergrund) und Nichtreligiöse einschließt, nur geschätzt werden.
  12. ↑ "Lutheran Diocese Berlin-Brandenburg". Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
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