In a move believed to be the first in Europe, Muslims who want to become German citizens will have to undergo a rigorous cultural test to determine their views on subjects like bigamy and homosexuality.
UK’s Telegraph reported Saturday that the German Southern state of Baden-Württemberg has created the two-hour oral exam to test the loyalty of Muslims towards Germany.
Muslim immigrants will face a lengthy interrogation including 30 questions on applicants' political and cultural views, the Interior Ministry of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said.
Muslims applicants must also have resided in Germany for the previous eight years and have no criminal record.
The rest of Germany's 16 states will monitor the progress of the policy as soon as the tests begin this week to decide whether they wish to adopt similar legislation.
The 30 questions, which range from sexual equality to school sports, are meant to trigger a more detailed discussion between the applicants and the German officials.
Before that Muslims seeking to become German citizens only had to tick a Yes or No box to answer whether they felt loyalty to Germany.
Now, they will be quizzed on their attitudes to homosexuality and western clothing for young women, and whether husbands should be allowed to beat their wives, as well as other questions on bigamy and whether parents should allow their children to participate in school sports.
The move was denounced by many who accuse the test as biased and discriminatory.
About 60 percent of all immigrants to Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2004 came from Muslim nations.
Brigitte Lösch, a leading member of the Green party in the Baden-Wurttemberg parliament, urged the government to drop the test as it inferred from the outset that all Muslims were "violent per se" and unable to abide by German law.
"This list of questions is only to be used for applicants from Islamic countries. It is an unbelievable form of discrimination," she said. "If Germans were asked some of the questions, they would find it difficult to answer them."
Also the European Assembly of Turkish Academics denounced the test as "strongly discriminatory and racist" against Germany's three million-strong Muslim population.
According to Kerim Arpad, an assembly spokesman, "the test is shaped by stereotypes and damages integration."
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
UK’s Telegraph reported Saturday that the German Southern state of Baden-Württemberg has created the two-hour oral exam to test the loyalty of Muslims towards Germany.
Muslim immigrants will face a lengthy interrogation including 30 questions on applicants' political and cultural views, the Interior Ministry of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said.
Muslims applicants must also have resided in Germany for the previous eight years and have no criminal record.
The rest of Germany's 16 states will monitor the progress of the policy as soon as the tests begin this week to decide whether they wish to adopt similar legislation.
The 30 questions, which range from sexual equality to school sports, are meant to trigger a more detailed discussion between the applicants and the German officials.
Before that Muslims seeking to become German citizens only had to tick a Yes or No box to answer whether they felt loyalty to Germany.
Now, they will be quizzed on their attitudes to homosexuality and western clothing for young women, and whether husbands should be allowed to beat their wives, as well as other questions on bigamy and whether parents should allow their children to participate in school sports.
The move was denounced by many who accuse the test as biased and discriminatory.
About 60 percent of all immigrants to Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2004 came from Muslim nations.
Brigitte Lösch, a leading member of the Green party in the Baden-Wurttemberg parliament, urged the government to drop the test as it inferred from the outset that all Muslims were "violent per se" and unable to abide by German law.
"This list of questions is only to be used for applicants from Islamic countries. It is an unbelievable form of discrimination," she said. "If Germans were asked some of the questions, they would find it difficult to answer them."
Also the European Assembly of Turkish Academics denounced the test as "strongly discriminatory and racist" against Germany's three million-strong Muslim population.
According to Kerim Arpad, an assembly spokesman, "the test is shaped by stereotypes and damages integration."
Source: Telegraph.co.uk