According to recent polls, around 70 percent of Germans consider themselves to be religious. However, the country’s two major denominations — Protestant and Catholic — are seeing a drop in attendance. Recent marketing slogans such as “You are the Church” are meant to attract new members into German houses of worship. But fewer and fewer…
Immigrants in the northern city of Padua are for the first time, fielding a list of candidates for local elections to be held in June, 2009. Among those being fielded include Mohammed Ahmed, a 52-year old Egyptian-born TV presenter, who has lived in Italy for more than 4 decades. Ahmed said that he would be…
Over 90 Muslim graves were desecrated on Sunday in the central Austrian town of Traun, near Linz, close to the Czech border. The gravestones were knocked over and in certain cases painted with black spray paint, Austrian security authorities said in a statement. Jewish symbols such as the star of David were also painted on…
For the first time in the country’s history, almost all party lists in Italy’s mid-April elections will contain at least one Muslim candidate. Among the hopefuls include Souad Sbai, the Moroccan Women’s Association president, also a member of Italy’s Consulta Islamica, a government’ appointed consultative body for Muslims in Italy. Italy’s Northern League has its…
City council elections in the south-eastern Austrian city of Graz on Sunday failed to result in significant support for a local candidate for the far-right Freedom Party (FP) who had lashed out against Islam in a highly controversial campaign. The top-seeded FP candidate Susanne Winter scored only moderate wins for the party just days after…
