Our project "Religion-sensitive integration culture in Eastern Saxony - exploration, testing, design", which was realized between 1.7.2018 and 31.12.2020, owes its inspiration on the one hand to the migration processes of 2014-2016, which - unlike before - also seriously affected rural areas of Germany and led to political conflicts about immigration and integration. The fact that a clear majority of refugees belonged to Islamic religious communities was also a key factor in perceptions of foreignness and rejection of migration. On the other hand, the connection between migration, religion and integration is by no means new to the Upper Lusatia region and in particular the border triangle between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. This statement refers not only to the long history of extensive migratory movements and so-called religious wars in our socio-geographical area, which date back to the Middle Ages. In the present context, it is primarily aimed at internal EU migration since the accession of the East Central European states in 2004. Since then, thousands of Polish and Czech, but also Bulgarian or Romanian EU citizens have settled in the Saxon border towns and border regions or commute between, for example, Poland and workplaces in the Görlitz district. Over 4,000 Polish citizens live in the city of Görlitz alone. Even if religious affiliations and practices are less publicly perceived and less conflictual here, accompanying and permeating social (dis)integration processes, they play an essential role for many migrants from Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe. Some project staff and those associated with the project experienced this themselves many years ago.         
The range of problems in the relationship between migration - religion - integration extends from the widespread lack of religion in East Germany with its consequences of ignorance and unfamiliarity with religious life orientations and practices among immigrants, to the opportunities for faster and multicultural integration of migrants and locals in and through religious communities or interreligious dialogue, to the risk of political radicalization of migrants as a result of religious communities isolating themselves from the host society or, conversely, through exclusionary practices. vice versa: through exclusion practices that immigrants also experience due to their religiosity. Since the district of Görlitz and civil society activists in the towns and municipalities also recognized the relevance of religion in and for successful or unsuccessful social integration in the region, we applied together with these partners for a practical project in the "Integrative Measures" funding guideline, the fruits of which are presented, documented and reflected on below. We are particularly grateful to the Görlitz district administration office and, in particular, the district's foreigners officer, Ms. Olga Schmidt, and the head of the integration department, Ms. Tatjana Eckert. We are also indebted to the Görlitz Adult Education Center and its head of department Christiane Schmidt as well as the Catholic Adult Education in Hesse e.V. and the head of studies for interreligious education at the Diocesan Education Center Limburg Dr. Frank van der Velden as important cooperation partners and supporters. We saw our project as the starting point for a highly relevant discussion and debate on the connection between migration, religion and integration, which aimed to raise awareness in the area of religious, cultural and political education, network those involved in this field and develop further education formats on a pilot basis. We hope that we have succeeded at least in part and naturally see the need to continue working in this field and to establish sustainable formats. For reasons of resources and time, we had to leave out the area of school education, although we are aware of how important educational opportunities, knowledge transfer and the opening up of experiential spaces are here. Although we know how difficult it can be to make "religiously unmusical people" - as Max Weber described himself 100 years ago as an individual far removed from religion - or even atheistically oriented population groups aware of the peculiar perceptions of the world, foundations of meaning and emotional life, and solidarity potential of believers and their communities and to win them over for active recognition and joint action, this remains a central task in multicultural and multi-religious immigration societies, as we are in Upper Lusatia - and must continue to be in the coming years and decades.  

         

It should be emphasized that religious education and the teaching of religious worldviews and lifestyles, as we have proposed and tested in this project, are by no means attempts at proselytization. Rather, we were and are concerned with the mutual and therefore also: religious potential for a peaceful and solidary coexistence of believers and the religiously unaffiliated. Only if we listen to each other, talk to each other, tolerate each other as others and recognize each other as political and social equals will it be possible in the future to live an open and at the same time inclusive society in Germany and Europe.

Foreword to the project documentation by Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Raj Kollmorgen