The family as a new faith community
The church is located in last place.

Is God being lost? Is humanity playing God? One in three Germans is now non-religious. Germany, it seems, is almost de-Christianized. And yet, demonstrably, more Germans attend church every Sunday than football matches. For every Bundesliga spectator at the weekend (approx. 0.7 million), there are seven churchgoers (approx. 5 million). On the other hand, Germany ranks last in a European comparison of religions (including Hungary and Russia). For just under a quarter of Germans (241,000 people), religion is an important part of their quality of life. Italians value religion twice as highly (481,000 people). This is according to representative surveys conducted by the BAT Foundation for Future Issues, in which 1,000 people aged 14 and over were interviewed in each of nine countries. „Religiosity and rituals are increasingly transforming into personal feelings of concern and emotion in response to current events such as Chernobyl and 9/11, climate change and the banking crisis. Prayer and giving thanks to God, church attendance and Sunday rest are falling by the wayside,“ says Prof. Dr. Horst W. Opaschowski, the Scientific Director of the BAT Foundation.

„"Everyone should find salvation in their own way.".
From church religion to private religion

Religion has become something deeply personal, even individualistic. For Germans, the principle of tolerance prevails, according to which everyone should be free to find their own path to salvation. Ninety-three percent of the population believe: "Everyone should have the religion they want." Almost everyone agrees on this – across all demographics. Religion is as close to and as personal to Germans as their own health. Opaschowski: "Being irreligious doesn't have to mean being meaningless. What was once a church-institutionalized meaning of life is becoming more of an individually privatized one. People can't help but believe in something inviolable and unassailable in life, in order not to lose their footing and sense of purpose. Above all, they believe in family because they cannot live without the feeling of security." Germans counter this arbitrariness with the constancy of life – the stability of the family (71%), lasting partnerships (52%), and lifelong support for children (55%). What matters at the end of a long life is the security of one's family home, partners and children as guarantors of happiness and meaning in life. And every second German citizen also relies on their friends (49%), trusting them and their reliability.

Religious divide through Germany:
Living in two worlds

The religious landscape of Germans reflects the history of the GDR and the FRG. The proportion of West Germans who consider their faith in God sacred is almost three times higher (20.51% compared to 7.61% in East Germany), and the proportion who profess their church affiliation is almost twice as high (11.21% compared to 5.81% in East Germany). Prayer is also more frequent and intense in West Germany (10.91%) than in East Germany (5.31%). "East Germans live more in a community of values than in a community of faith: promises and reliability are more important to them than to West Germans. Their expressed sense of justice is also more pronounced," says Professor Opaschowski. A remarkable finding of the BAT representative survey is that the most religious people live in Baden-Württemberg (29.01%), followed by residents of Rhineland-Palatinate (27.01%), Saarland (26.31%), Hesse (25.51%), and Bavaria (23.51%). The lowest percentages of religious believers, on the other hand, are found in the states of Schleswig-Holstein (4.31%), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (4.01%), and Saxony-Anhalt (1.61%).  

Demographic factor religion:
Value system with a future

Religion becomes a demographic factor: Consumption and money dominate the world of young people (80%), while religion leads a niche existence in this phase of life (26%). However, upon reaching the age of 65, mere consumerism experiences a dramatic decline (58%), while at the same time the significance of religion more than doubles (56%). Opaschowski: "Money has to be right, but religion becomes just as important for personal well-being." Nature, culture, education, and religion all gain in importance among the aging population.  

The most beautiful thing in life is the most sacred.
The family as a new faith community

Family is sacred to Germans. Almost three-quarters of Germans (71%) consider their own family to be "the" faith community, while church membership is almost irrelevant (10% – young people: 1%). Only singles are somewhat more reserved towards family (49%), without the church (4%) being able to compensate for this lack of importance. Quite the contrary: the church ranks last when it comes to the question of what is sacred to Germans.
„The ‚holy family’ obviously survives all crises and trends,“ says foundation director Opaschowski. „The family has something inviolable about it. Instead of a return of religion, it’s more like a renaissance of the family. The family is the new faith community of the Germans.“ Those who once sought God have become seekers of meaning. Perhaps religiosity today is simply another word for humanity. The representative survey conducted by the BAT Foundation for Future Issues convincingly demonstrates that highly religious people are particularly characterized by reverence for life, reverence for nature, and respect for human dignity. „Highly religious“ are people who believe in God, pray regularly, belong to a church, and describe themselves as religious. Those who live without gods or religion, on the other hand, place significantly less value on nature and human dignity, reliability, and tolerance. These values, however, are the social glue that will hold our society together in the future.  
Opaschowski: "It must therefore be a fundamental interest of society and politics that religion, in its traditional sense, continues to be cultivated and practiced in everyday life, so that humanity does not atrophy or die." Without religion, the culture and social cohesion of a society are permanently endangered. Religion strengthens the sense of community.