09./10.03.2012
The authors of the study on integration, which was published last week with allegedly
alarming results about many Muslims’ unwillingness to integrate (as reported), criticized
that the media presentation of the study focused too much on only one part of the findings
– namely the 15 to 24% of Muslims in Germany who refuse to integrate. While the federal
minister of the interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich, chose to officially present the key findings
without the main researchers, they did not have a chance to correct his presentation
immediately. Now, however, the authors of the study emphasised that they found a
more complex situation than presented by Friedrich – whose statements about Muslims’
unwillingness to integrate were not representative. Furthermore, any statements about a
potential radicalisation were too general, as the researchers found that most Muslims in
Germany reject religiously motivated violence. The authors of the study saw evidence of
one-sided (and negative) presentation of their study in the media and called for a more
differentiated view of the findings.
