1 BAMF- Brief Analysis Edition 02|2020 of the Brief Analysis by the Migration, Integration and Asylum 2020 Research Centre at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees 2 | Religious affiliation, religious practice and social integration of refugees by Manuel Siegert At a glance Among the refugees who came to Germany in the As regards their religious affiliation, refugees are not years 2013 to 2016 inclusive, the proportion of Mus- necessarily representative of their countries of origin. lims (around 71%) is significantly higher than in the Rather, religious minorities, such as Christian refugees rest of the population in Germany, while the propor- from Iran, are sometimes overrepresented. tion of Christians (around 17%) and those who do not belong to any religion (around 6%) is significantly Faith and religion seem to be somewhat less impor- lower. tant to Muslim refugees than to other Muslim reli- gious communities in Germany. In this respect, they Among Christian refugees, the proportion of those seem to correspond more to people of the Christian who feel that they belong to an Orthodox Church is faith living in Germany. By contrast, faith and religion significantly higher, and the proportion of those who seem to be particularly important to Christian refu- feel that they belong to the Protestant and, in par- gees. ticular, the Catholic Church is significantly lower than in the rest of the Christian population in Germany. Refugees who participate in religious life are more socially integrated than refugees who do not. At the The vast majority of Muslim refugees come from the same time, frequent attendance of religious events Near and Middle East, whereas the rest of the Mus- also has a slightly positive impact on the time spent lim population in Germany is of Turkish origin. It can specifically with Germans. In other words, there is no therefore be assumed that the diversity of Muslim indication that participation in religious life is associ- life in Germany will continue to increase due to the ated with isolation from the host society. different local traditions. Forschung Research Centre Migration, Integration and Asylum 2 BAMF-Brief Analysis 02|2020 Introduction Accordingly, other religious denominations will also be influenced by the immigration of refugees. At the end of 2018, there were around 1.8 million people living in Germany who had arrived as asylum In this context, however, it is important to note that seekers (Federal Statistical Office 2019).1 As such, the refugees are not necessarily representative of their majority of asylum seekers come from predominantly countries of origin in terms of their religious affilia- Islamic countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq tion. On the contrary, it can be assumed that religious (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees 2019: minorities are overrepresented, especially if they were 73). Since the proportion of members of the Muslim persecuted in their countries of origin because of their religion among the population resident in Germany in religious affiliation. Furthermore, an influence on their 2015 was at most about 6% (up to 4.7 million people) respective religious life in Germany is only possible if (Stichs 2016), the influx of asylum seekers will also faith and religion play a certain role in the lives of the have an impact on religious life in Germany. refugees, if they practise their religion and participate in religious life accordingly. So far, however, hardly any Not only has the number of members of the Muslim findings have been made in this regard. religion living in Germany increased, the diversity of Muslim life in Germany, in particular, is expected to in- The integration of refugees into religious communities crease as well. Although persons of Turkish origin still has the capacity to influence not only religious life in represent the largest group of origin among the mem- Germany, but also the integration of refugees in the bers of the Muslim religion in Germany, their share had host society in general (Müssig/Stichs 2012: 303-310). already declined noticeably by the end of 2015 due to Participation in religious events and involvement in migration to and from Germany (Stichs 2016: 31). The religious communities can possibly help to establish influx of migrants in the years after 2015 will continue contacts with people in the host society, which can to drive this development. In addition, refugees did counteract social isolation. There is also the possibility not just come from predominantly Muslim countries. that the social contacts made in this way may provide important information or concrete assistance in facili- 1 The terms refugees and asylum seekers are not used here in the tating the process of integration in the host society. legal sense, but as collective terms for persons who have filed an asylum application in Germany, regardless of whether or how the application was decided (for a detailed description of the Against this backdrop, this brief analysis will show population considered here, see: Kroh et al. 2016). whether refugees participate in religious life in Ger- Infobox : The IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees The IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees is a na- ods, the results obtained on the basis of the data are tionwide longitudinal survey of persons who came representative for the households of the population to Germany and filed an asylum application here be- delimited above (for a detailed description of the tween 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2016 inclu- sampling procedure: Kroh et al. 2016. Kühne et al. sive, irrespective of the course and outcome of the 2019; Jacobsen et al. 2019). asylum procedure. The survey thus included persons in the asylum procedure (asylum seekers) and per- Information is available on 4,465 adults for the year sons who had already been granted protection status 2016. For the year 2017, information is available on – in particular persons entitled to asylum under around 5,668 adults. Article 16a of the Basic Law and refugees under the Geneva Convention on Refugees as well as persons The survey programme is comparatively extensive entitled to subsidiary protection. Furthermore, per- (Kroh et al. 2016), allowing for a comprehensive sons were interviewed whose asylum application had analysis to be conducted of the living conditions of been rejected but whose departure or deportation refugees. It is therefore possible to include a large had been suspended for various reasons and who number of relevant characteristics in the analyses, had therefore been granted a suspension of depor- such as time of entry, gender, age, country of origin, tation (Kroh et al. 2016). In addition, the household level of education and residence status. members of these persons are also interviewed. The Central Register of Foreigners (AZR) provided the basis for sampling. Using statistical weighting meth- BAMF-Brief Analysis 02|2020 3 many and, if so, whether this is associated with their tion or describe themselves as non-denominational is social integration. Therefore, the data gleaned from the same at around 6% each. This distribution corre- the second wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of sponds largely to the distribution of asylum seekers’ Refugees (Kroh et al. 2016; Kühne et al. 2019; Info- religious affiliations for the years 2014 to 2017 (Federal box) in 2017, the areas of religion, faith and religious Office for Migration and Refugees 2015, 2016, 2017, practice were examined in detail, is used. The study 2018). Only persons who do not feel affiliated to any will begin by examining the religion to which refugees religious denomination are somewhat more strongly who came to Germany in the years 2013 to 2016 feel represented in the present analyses. affiliated. Then the socio-structural characteristics of the members of the different religion will be examined It becomes apparent that the religious affiliation before it is shown what importance religion and faith of refugees differs significantly from the religious have for the refugees and to what extent they are al- affiliation of the total population resident in Germany. ready integrated into religious life in Germany. Subse- In 2010, slightly more than 60% of the population in quently, the social integration of members of different Germany identified as Christian. Around 30% were faiths will be discussed and it will be shown whether not affiliated to any church. Around 5% were Muslims participation in religious events – as an indicator for and around 2% were followers of another religion participation in religious life – is related to social inte- or religious movement (Bertelsmann 2013: 32). Even gration. The article will conclude with a summary and though the religious structure in Germany has changed discussion of the key findings. since 2010, persons who identify as Christians made up the largest group in Germany, even in 2017, when the data for the second wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Religious affiliation of refugees Survey of Refugees was collected, followed by persons not affiliated to any church. Hence, compared to the The vast majority of refugees (around 71%) are mem- rest of the population in Germany, refugees identify bers of the Islamic faith (Figure 1). Christianity comes more frequently as Muslims and less frequently as second by a wide margin, with around 17% of refugees Christians, but they also identify far less frequently as saying they are Christian. The proportion of those who having no religious affiliation. either feel that they belong to a different denomina- Figure 1: Religious affiliation of refugees, expressed as a percentage 6.2 6.3 16.8 70.7 Islam Christanity Other No denomination N.B.: Data weighted. Source: IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees 2017, v34. 4 BAMF-Brief Analysis 02|2020 Figure 2: Religious denominations of Muslim refugees, Figure 3: Denominational affiliation of Christian refugees, expressed as a percentage expressed as a percentage 7.5 6.0 9.8 19.4 42.0 82.7 32.6 Sunni Shiite Other Orthodox Protestant Catholic Other N.B.: Data weighted.