Religion as Marker of Identity? Cover, Der Spiegel (April 28, 2018)

In June 2018, Bavaria issued a so-called Cross Decree, according to which crosses were supposed to be hung in the entrances of all public buildings in the state of Bavaria; the so-called Headscarf Dispute saw various factions clash over whether “Islam belongs to Germany” and over the question of who could wear a headscarf where; kippah or yarmulke wearers were attacked and ridiculed in public. When it came to identity markers, religious affiliation was once again at the top of the list—not so much in a purely confessional sense, but rather as a signifier of Germanness and belonging or, alternatively, as a justification for exclusion. This Spiegel cover from 2018 reads, “God, oh God, oh God! Headscarves, Crosses, Kippas: The German Struggle for Identity—Faith and its Abuse.