> separation of state and religion FWIW as I used to be misinformed about this: Germany does not have a meaningful separation of state and religion. We have no

> separation of state and religion FWIW as I used to be misinformed about this: Germany does not have a meaningful separation of state and religion. We have no state religion so it's not a "Christian nation" strictly speaking but there are a lot of things preventing us from being a secular one: * the constitution establishes that the German people have a duty to "God" * recognised (publicly incorporated) churches have special privileges, like enacting taxes on their members, which are collected "for free" by the state * employees of the Catholic or Protestant churches are subject to church law, which often overrides ordinary labor protections * Merkel has repeatedly stated that Europe and Germany are defined by Christian values and that her stance on certain topics (e.g. homosexuality) is guided by her Christianity * we have a blasphemy law that criminalises insults against religious beliefs or deities (rather than individuals or religious groups) (there are more examples but I think this is sufficient to prove a point) > I hope that you're wrong and at least according to current polls >10% doesn't seem like a forgone conclusion So do I, I'm just going by their trajectory in state elections. I don't want them to get a single seat but I know they are still the go-to protest vote and there are a lot of upset voters.