Cologne prides itself on its cosmopolitanism, now allowing the reputation of the muezzin in the city.
However, that is false tolerance for an ideology of intolerance.
A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.
From Friday, the call of the muezzin can echo through the city in Cologne *.
In the metropolis on the Rhine, they celebrate themselves as being particularly cosmopolitan and diverse.
Perhaps the non-party mayor Henriette Reker is only particularly naive when, in the multicultural exuberance, she equates the muezzin call with the ringing of church bells.
Tolerance, for which Cologne now prides itself, unfortunately all too often serves an ideology of intolerance
That's just not it. The cry "I testify that there is no God but Allah" expresses a claim to superiority and power that is not inherent in the ringing of Christian bells. Integration expert Ahmad Mansour calls it a “show of force”. That should be entirely to the taste of the Turkish ruler Erdogan, who once referred to the minarets as "our bayonets". Erdogan's religious association Ditib, which is suspected of anti-Semitism and Islamism, controls Cologne's largest mosque with its difficult understanding of Islam.
The tolerance for which Cologne praises itself so profusely does not always, but unfortunately all too often, serve an ideology of intolerance that rejects women's rights, ostracizes gays and other minorities and threatens Jews.
What is going on in their heads when they hear the call of the muezzin echoing through German cities in the future?
It is not they who, as Ms. Reker reproachfully says, “question our peaceful coexistence” with their worried objections.
But those who smile at our tolerance as a sign of weakness.
