Prominent Islam experts founded the "Initiative for Secular Islam" just before the start of the fourth Islam Conference. Among them is the Green politician Cem Özdemir. The goal of the group is to "make a contemporary understanding of Islam heard, as the" time "reports.
The founding document states: "We do not want to accept the growing power of a democracy-distant, politicized Islam, which claims the sovereignty over the interpretation of all Islam."
Among the ten initial signatories, according to the report, among others, the lawyer Seyran Ates, the political scientist Hamed Abdel-Samad, the sociologist Necla Kelek and the psychologist Ahmad Mansour.
The group criticizes the supremacy of the conservative conservative associations in the Islam Conference, reports the "time". "A distinction between believers and unbelievers, of course, we reject," it says.
Worry about Islamophobia and Islamism
A contemporary "German" Islam must be independent of foreign governments and organizations in every respect. For this reason, but also because of "democratic reservations", the group rejects the recognition of Islamist associations as public corporations.
Furthermore, the signatories declare "concerned about increasing anti-Muslim sentiment, but also about increasing Islamism". German Muslims have a duty to "positively counter the concerns of the non-Muslim population by developing Islam that is fully compatible with human rights."
Next Wednesday, the fourth Islam Conference will start in Berlin. The DIK, founded in 2006, is the federal government's central forum for dialogue with Muslims in Germany. At the beginning of the meeting Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) gives a keynote address.
Participants include representatives of Muslim civil society: mosque associations, non-association organizations, smaller initiatives, and academics and experts. Representatives of the federal, state and municipal administration as well as the churches and Jewish life in Germany are also expected.