conflict & communication online, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2018
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Sarah Demmrich & Michael Blume
Non-religiousness and “religious indecisiveness” among Turkish migrants in Germany. A first description

The topic of non-religiosity among migrants of Turkish origin is often overshadowed by debates of Islam and integration, although Turkey has a long history of non-religious, secular positions. The present study found in a representative survey among migrants of Turkish origin in Germany (N = 1201, 51.5 % male) that 12.4 % consider themselves as ‘little religious’ or ‘non-religious’ and additional 10.3 % as ‘neither religious nor non-religious’, whereby the latter group takes a religious middle position. In contrast to highly religious migrants of Turkish origin, it could be shown that patriarchal-authoritarian and endogame family structures take important key functions in the religious, esp. Muslim socialization. Furthermore, non-religiosity and acculturation strategies are related to each other; however, belonging to the first versus second/third generation of migrants has a much stronger impact on acculturation. Finally, acculturation of less or non-religious individuals is emphasized as an important future topic of migration research.

The authors:
Sarah Demmrich (married Kaboğan), Dr. phil., Dipl.-Psych., is a scientific assistant at the Chair in Soziology of Religion at the University of Münster, Germany. Her fields of interest include religion psychology in Turkey, and Turkish migrants in Germany.
eMail: demmrich.sarah@gmail.com

Michael Blume, Dr. phil., is a scholar of religious studies, and teaches professional and media ethics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He is head of division in the Ministry of State Baden-Württemberg. In his volume „Islam in der Krise. Eine Weltreligion zwischen Radikalisierung und stillem Rückzug“ (Patmos 2017), he recently adverted to processes of secularisation among Muslims.