E/CN.4/1998/6/Add.2
page 11
Foreigners' Affairs in Berlin, of an Islamic study centre and the publication
of a brochure on Islam and an inter-cultural calendar including Muslim
holidays.
44.
It is also essential that the media, and the popular press in
particular, should cease portraying a negative image of Islam and Muslims, who
are too often associated with religious extremists.
45.
Religious extremism, although existing only in small minority groups in
Germany, must be treated with appropriate vigilance by the authorities. The
latter, like Muslim leaders, emphasized the existence of a minority extremist
trend opposed to any integration within society, often using religion as a
political tool, and sometimes expressing itself in a violent form within the
Muslim community, such as the recent murder of an imam in Berlin because of
internal conflicts. Muslim representatives stated that it was necessary to
ensure proper religious leadership and that they were trying to prevent the
arrival from abroad of imams who were uneducated, not to say intolerant, for
example through an agreement with Turkey authorizing the sending of imams only
after scrutiny of applications by Muslim leaders in Germany.
46.
According to non-governmental spokesmen, Islam should be given a wider
public forum and should not be confined strictly to the private domain; that
could in certain circumstances promote clandestinity, which was in no one's
interest.
47.
Lastly, the Muslim leaders interviewed by the Special Rapporteur
emphasized that they desired the integration of Muslims, but certainly not
their assimilation.
C.
Other groups and communities in the field of
religion and belief
48.
During his visit, the Special Rapporteur had interviews with
representatives of the Baha'is, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and of the
Bhagwans, Hare Krishna and the Unification Church. He also collected
information on the Charismatic Christians, the Community of Universal Life,
Transcendental Meditation, Fiat Lux, etc. Finally, he had consultations with
associations of victims of sects, the Bundestag Study Commission on sects and
psycho-groups, and the authorities.
49.
In these talks, one and the same group or community might be described,
depending on whom he was talking to, as a new religious movement, a religion,
a sect, or alternatively a psycho-group. The Special Rapporteur wishes to
point out that international law has no legal definition of the concept of
religion or, consequently, of new religious movements. Similarly, the
international human rights instruments do not cover the concepts of sect or
psycho-group.