Churches and Religious Communities
About 250 religious or ideological communities have found their place in Berlin - their members find opportunities for prayer and exchange of experiences in numerous meeting places and assembly rooms.
With almost 970,000 members, the two large Christian denominations make up around 26 percent of Berlin's population. Almost 62,000 belong to the other Christian denominations.
The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, as the church with the largest number of members, has around 576,000 members. The main church of the bishop of the Protestant Church is St. Marien Church in Berlin-Mitte. Approximately 331,000 Berliners belong to the Archdiocese of Berlin of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishop's Church is St. Hedwig's Cathedral, consecrated in 1773 in Berlin-Mitte.
The third largest group is made up of people of the Muslim faith with an estimated 10 percent, followed by members of the Jewish faith. With about 9,500 organised believers, they make up 0.25 per cent of the population. Numerous Buddhist and Hindu communities, Bahá'í and Sikh communities, as well as a variety of smaller religious communities add to religious life in Berlin.
Religious associations and initiatives
Associations and initiatives enable the experience of togetherness and cross-religious dialogue. It is estimated that more than 250 religious or ideological communities are represented in Berlin:
Selection of religious and ideological communities in Berlin
With the House of One, a unique place is being created in Berlin for the exchange of people of different religions: A synagogue, a church and a mosque will be built under one roof.
Some religious communities have their own cemeteries or burial grounds, for example:
- the Russian Orthodox cemetery in Berlin-Tegel,
- the Jewish cemetery in Charlottenburger Heerstrasse,
- the Islamic cemetery at Columbiadamm or
- the Buddhist burial ground in the Ruhleben cemetery.
(Source: Senate Department for Culture and Europe)