Call to Prayer in German Church Sparks Islamophobia Debate

DID Press: A video showing a Muslim reciting the Islamic call to prayer inside a church in Germany has sparked widespread reactions on social media, with some right-wing users portraying the footage as evidence of a shift in Germany’s religious and cultural identity linked to immigration and the growing presence of Muslims.

The video circulated widely around the September 20 state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. According to the results cited in the report, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 38.2% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and placed third in Berlin with 16.3%.

Several prominent accounts associated with Germany’s right-wing political scene, including Radio Genoa, Julian Pollas, Heit Löfl and Silvius Bertoldi, reposted the footage alongside claims about changes to Germany’s identity and the growing presence of Muslims.

However, fact-checking reports found that the call to prayer was part of an interfaith dialogue event at St. Michael’s Church in Weiden. The event brought together members of different faiths and was intended to promote understanding of religious traditions and reduce religious prejudice.

According to those reports, the participation of Muslims and the recitation of the call to prayer had been planned as part of the interfaith program. Contrary to some social-media narratives, the event was not an independent Islamic gathering inside the church.

The video was therefore taken from an interfaith event but was circulated online, amid Germany’s electoral debate and wider disputes over immigration and Islam, with claims that differed from the reported context of the ceremony.