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Religions of Berlin


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More than 60% of Berlin residents have no registered religious affiliation and Berlin has been described as the atheist capital of Europe. The largest denominations as of 2010 are the Protestant regional church body of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) (a church of united administration comprising mostly Lutheran, and few Reformed and United Protestant congregations; EKBO is a member of the umbrellas Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Union Evangelischer Kirchen (UEK)) with 18.7% of the population, and the Roman Catholic Church with 9.1% of registered members. About 2.7% of the population identify with other Christian denominations (mostly Eastern Orthodox) and 8.1% are Muslims. 0.9% of Berliners belong to other religions. Approximately 80% of the 12,000 registered Jews (0.3%; real number of Jewish people is estimated to be up to 50,000) now residing in Berlin have come from the former Soviet Union. Additionally, Berlin is considered to be one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in the world due to Russian, Israeli and German Jewish immigrants, whose ancestors fled Germany during the Holocaust.

Berlin is seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Berlin and also EKBO's elected chairperson is titled bishop of EKBO. Furthermore Berlin is seat of Orthodox cathedrals, such as the Cathedral of St. Boris the Baptist, one of the two seats of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Western and Central Europe, and the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral of the Diocese of Berlin (Patriarchate of Moscow).

The faithful of the different religions and denominations maintain many places of worship in Berlin. The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church has eight parishes of different sizes in Berlin. There are 36 Baptist congregations (within Union of Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Germany), 29 New Apostolic Churches, 15 United Methodist churches, eight Free Evangelical Congregations, six congregations of the Church
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