Irreligion in Germany

Irreligion is prevalent in Germany. In a time of near-universal adoption of Christianity, Germany was an intellectual centre for European freethought and humanist thinking, whose ideas spread across Europe and the world in the Age of Enlightenment. Later, religious traditions in Germany were weakened by the twin onslaughts of Nazi rule during World War II and that of the Socialist Unity Party in East Germany during the Cold War. In common with most other European societies, a period of secularisation also continued in the decades that followed. While today Christianity remains prevalent in the north, south, and west of Germany, in the east relatively few Germans identify with any religion whatsoever.

Majority worldview according to the 2011 census

  Protestant

  Catholic

  predominantly atheist and non-religious

Dark: absolute majority (>50%)
Light: relative majority (33.3 – 50%)

Non-religious population according to the 2011 census (including other religions and not specified)

As of 2021, approximately 42% of Germans are irreligious, with a significantly higher concentration of irreligious citizens in the former East Germany. Eastern Germany, which was historically Protestant,^[1][2] is perhaps the least religious region in the world.

History

One early irreligious German philosopher was Ludwig Feuerbach, who developed a theory of anthropological materialism in his book The Essence of Christianity. Feuerbach's work influenced contemporaries Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their writings against religion.^[3] The Freethought movement gained support in Germany during the 19th century. The secular coming of age ceremony Jugendweihe was developed in the 1850s, and Ludwig Büchner founded the German Freethinkers League in 1881.^[4]

After its unification in the 1870s, the German Empire sought to resist attempts by the Catholic Church to impose its authority over the empire's sovereignty. During the Kulturkampf, Germany passed several laws that limited the power of religious authorities over the state.^[5][6] Friedrich Nietzsche was a notable voice in German irreligion at this time, famously declaring that "God is dead" in his works The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, predicting further growth of irreligion as a result of Enlightenment ideas.

The Weimar Republic guaranteed freedom of religion when its constitution came into force in 1919. After the Nazi Party took control of the country in 1933, constitutional protections were ignored in Nazi Germany. Secular and Freethought movements were banned, including the German Freethinkers League, which by then had grown to about 500,000 members.^[7] By 1939, 1.5% of Germans were irreligious.^[8]

After World War II, Germany was divided into East and West Germany. While West Germany allowed for religious protections, East Germany enacted a system of state atheism and persecuted Christian groups for the first several years of its existence, resulting in East Germany having significantly higher levels of irreligion than West Germany. This divide persisted after the German reunification and still exists today.^[9]

Demographics

A 2021 estimate shows that 41.9% of the German population were non-confessional and not members of any religious group.^[10] Christianity still has a notable presence in Western Germany, though a majority of the population in the northern states of Hamburg and Bremen are not registered members of the main Catholic and Protestant churches.^[11][12] When taken overall, Germany is one of the least religious countries.^[9][13]

The Cambridge Companion to Atheism estimated that there were in 2004 around thirty-three million to forty million non believers in Germany.^[14] As of 2009, more Germans are non-believers in Eastern Germany than Western Germany.^[15][16] Eastern Germany, which was historically Protestant,^[9] is perhaps the least religious region in the world.^[17][18] An explanation for this, popular in other regions, is the aggressive state atheist policies of the German Democratic Republic's Socialist Unity Party of Germany. However, the enforcement of atheism existed only for the first few years. After that, the state allowed churches to have a relatively high level of autonomy.^[19] Atheism is embraced by Germans of all ages, though irreligion is particularly common among younger Germans.^[20] One study in September 2012 was unable to find a single person under 28 who believes in God.^[9] A 2017 Pew Research survey in Germany found that Catholics were more likely than Protestants to attend religious services at least monthly and to wear religious symbols. A bigger share of Protestants than Catholics gave money to their church.^[21]

State^[22]	Non-religious (2011)	Percentage of the population
Saxony-Anhalt	1,805,960	79.6%
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	1,229,350	77.5%
Brandenburg	1,858,370	76.2%
Saxony	2,908,420	72.6%
Thuringia	1,433,690	66.0%
Berlin	2,045,340	62.6%
Hamburg	827,180	48.9%
Bremen	251,770	38.9%
Schleswig-Holstein	955,190	34.3%
Germany	26,265,880	33.0%
Hesse	1,610,090	27.1%
Lower Saxony	1,992,670	25.8%
North Rhine-Westphalia	3,930,270	22.5%
Baden-Württemberg	2,248,600	21.6%
Bavaria	2,317,860	18.8%
Rhineland-Palatinate	720,000	18.1%
Saarland	131,120	13.2%

See also

• Christianity in Germany
• Demographics of Germany
• Freedom of religion in Germany
• Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands
• Islam in Germany
• Party of Humanists
• Religion in Germany

References

1. "Kirchenmitglieder: 49,7 Prozent". fowid.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-08-15.
2. "Eastern Germany: The most godless place on Earth | Peter Thompson". TheGuardian.com. 22 September 2012.
3. Gooch, Todd (2020), "Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2020 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2022-02-23
4. Royle, Edward (1980). Radicals, Secularists, and republicans: popular freethought in Britain, 1866-1915. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 78. ISBN 0-7190-0783-6.
5. Pflanze, Otto, in: Bismarck and the Development of Germany, Volume II, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-05587-4, p 202
6. . Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
7. "Atheist Hall Converted: Berlin Churches Establish Bureau to Win Back Worshipers". The New York Times. May 14, 1933. p. 2. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
8. Ziegler, Herbert F. (2014). Nazi Germany's New Aristocracy: The SS Leadership, 1925–1939. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 85–87. ISBN 9781400860364. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
9. "Eastern Germany: the most godless place on Earth | Peter Thompson | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. London. 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
10. FOWID Religionszugehörigkeiten 2021
11. . Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
12. Church Statistics 2015
13. (PDF). Gallup. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-02. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
14. Zuckerman, Phil (2007). "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns". Cambridge Companion to Atheism: 15.
15. "Only the Old Embrace God in Former East Germany". Spiegel. Retrieved 2012-07-02.
16. "East Germany world's most godless area". The Local. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
17. . Die Welt. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
18. "East Germany the "most atheistic" of any region". Dialog International. 2012. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
19. . theguardian. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
20. "Only the Old embrace God in former East-Germany". Spiegel Online. 2012. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
21. Evans, Jonathan (2019-02-12). "Once a majority, Protestants now account for fewer than a third of Germans". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
22. "Zensusdatenbank - Ergebnisse des Zensus 2011". Retrieved 27 December 2016.