page_title: Germany
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Germany / Religion
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kölner Dom bei Nacht, mit dem Rhein im VordergrundEnglish: Cologne Cathedral at night, with the Rhine in the foreground
context_page_description: Germany, officially Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG.
  To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres. The large majority of Germany has warm summers and cold winters. In June 2013, Germany had a population of 80.6 million people, the largest in Europe. After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world.
  Before it was called Germany, it was called Germania. In the years A.D. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part.
context_section_description: Germany's constitution says that all people can believe in any religion they want to, and that no one is allowed to discriminate against somebody because of the person's religion.
  In ancient times Germany was largely pagan. Roman Catholicism was the biggest religion in Germany up to the 15th century, but a major religious change called the Reformation changed this. In 1517, Martin Luther said that the Catholic Church used religion to make money. Luther started Protestantism, which is as big as the Catholic religion in Germany today. Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German people were Protestant and one-thirds were Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany, there were a lot more Protestants than Catholics. Today, about two-thirds of German people (more than 55 million people) call themselves Christian, but most of them do not practice it. About half of them are Protestants and about half are Roman Catholics. Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Germany.
  Before World War II, about one percent of the country's people were German Jews. Today, Germany has the fastest-growing group of Jewish people in the world. Many of them are in Berlin. Ten thousand Jews have moved to Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall; many came from countries that were in the Soviet Union. Schools teaching about the horrible things that happened when the Nazis were in power, as well as teaching against the ideas of the Nazis, has helped to make Germany very tolerant towards other people and cultures, and now many people move there from countries that may not be so tolerant.
  About three million Muslims live in Germany, 3.7% of the total population. The country also has a large atheist and agnostic population, and there are also large about O.6 million Hinduism follower and some small group of Jain, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities. The 20th century has also seen a neopagan revival.
caption: The Cologne Cathedral at the Rhine river is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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