Germany bans local Salafist Muslim group with large internet reach
The Interior Ministry in the state of Lower Saxony, which includes Braunschweig, moved to prohibit the DMG, claiming it conflicts with Germany's constitutional democratic order.
"We do not tolerate associations in which supposed non-believers, women and Jews, as well as our social order as a whole, are regularly devalued and followers called upon to fight them," said Lower Saxony's interior minister, Daniela Behrens. "The ban on the DMG is a hard blow against the Salafist scene in Lower Saxony and beyond."
A report from Lower Saxony's domestic intelligence agency in June 2023 alleged that the Braunschweig-based DMG had become a nationwide meeting point for Salafist preachers, and had significantly expanded its online presence with content on YouTube, TikTok, Spotify and Telegram.
"Every week, the appearances of these nationally known Salafist preachers are also made accessible to a large number of viewers via the various online channels of the DMG Braunschweig," the state's Interior Ministry said in a statement at the time.
According to the ministry, the DMG Braunschweig's YouTube channel alone had around 70,000 subscribers as of May 2023.
"The risk of self-radicalization is and remains high, especially in light of the digital possibilities for information and communication," the ministry said at the time.
The group's website includes postings for numerous opportunities aimed at children and young people. These include Koran camps, children's camps, youth conferences and study circles.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/germany-bans-...55717.html
The Interior Ministry in the state of Lower Saxony, which includes Braunschweig, moved to prohibit the DMG, claiming it conflicts with Germany's constitutional democratic order.
"We do not tolerate associations in which supposed non-believers, women and Jews, as well as our social order as a whole, are regularly devalued and followers called upon to fight them," said Lower Saxony's interior minister, Daniela Behrens. "The ban on the DMG is a hard blow against the Salafist scene in Lower Saxony and beyond."
A report from Lower Saxony's domestic intelligence agency in June 2023 alleged that the Braunschweig-based DMG had become a nationwide meeting point for Salafist preachers, and had significantly expanded its online presence with content on YouTube, TikTok, Spotify and Telegram.
"Every week, the appearances of these nationally known Salafist preachers are also made accessible to a large number of viewers via the various online channels of the DMG Braunschweig," the state's Interior Ministry said in a statement at the time.
According to the ministry, the DMG Braunschweig's YouTube channel alone had around 70,000 subscribers as of May 2023.
"The risk of self-radicalization is and remains high, especially in light of the digital possibilities for information and communication," the ministry said at the time.
The group's website includes postings for numerous opportunities aimed at children and young people. These include Koran camps, children's camps, youth conferences and study circles.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/germany-bans-...55717.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"