United in diversity? Religious categorization in the German 2011 census

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines how German politicians conceptualized religion in debates on the 2011 Census Law. It shows that they selectively used four different conceptualizations: religion as legal membership, as descent, as motive of behaviour and as belief. Their use of these categories depended not so much on policy demands as on the religious community under consideration. While Christians were viewed as members of religious organizations who deserved optimal services, Muslims were interpreted as members of an ethnic group that the state needed to identify. The final law upholds this divide, albeit in a different form. By studying the entire repertoire of religious categories, this article reframes the problem of ethnicized religion. It reveals that politicians selectively used multiple, also non-ethnic, categories of religion by adhering to legal and organizational legacies. Instead of conceptualizing categorizations as products of a unified path dependency, this article charts their varied, even conflicting, legacies.