Excerpt:
Alexander Dobrindt, the leader of the Christian Social Union’s (CSU) parliamentary party, defended against criticism on Wednesday that his conservative Bavarian party was seeking to marginalize Muslims while doubling down on the stance that “Islam is not part of Germany.”
The comments by a high-ranking politician from the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) threaten to reignite a debate that the German government has been hoping to let peter out for weeks.
Speaking with Funke media group, Dobrindt said:
- “Muslims who want to integrate into our society are part of our country, but Islam is not part of Germany.”
- Islam “has no cultural roots in Germany and with Sharia as a legal system, it has nothing in common with our Judeo-Christian heritage.”