The German Islam Conference, widely believed to be one of the best hopes for Muslim integration in Germany, ended its annual conference in failure. The meeting, held in Berlin on May 7, revolved around three main issues that involve the Muslim community. They were, “institutional cooperation between Muslims and the German state; gender equality as a common value; and prevention of extremism, radicalization and social polarization.”

There are currently an estimated 4.3 million Muslims living in Germany. They make up 5 percent of the population. The reason for the large number of Muslims living in Germany can be traced back to the signing of a labor recruitment agreement between West Germany and Turkey on Oct 30, 1961. The treaty allowed “guest workers” to come in from Turkey and work. They were originally supposed to stay for only two years, but the treaty was altered in 1964, removing the “rotation clause,” which meant that the workers could stay. Turks are now the largest ethnic minority in the country and play an increasingly important role in the German workplace.

With an aging population, Germany needs a younger workforce. If Germany isn’t careful, it will put itself in a position similar to that which the U.S. is starting to find itself in. The ability to pay all the pensioners is becoming less viable as retiree numbers swell. As time goes on, Germany is becoming more dependent on immigrants. For instance, the birth rate of the Turkish immigrants in Germany is nearly double that of the native German population. This ensures the availability of young, skilled workers—and the continual growth of the Muslim population.

The German Islam Conference takes in a conglomeration of representatives from all the Muslim sects within Germany and attempts to deal with current issues and gain input from the Muslim minority within the German population. The German government failed to make significant inroads through the use of the conference this year. The failure is partially because the Muslim representatives are refusing to take any blame for the problems being brought up.

Of the three issues the conference tried to deal with, the last was by far the most controversial. The Muslim representatives were outraged at the notion that the government was concerned about risks posed by radical Islam. German members of the conference brought up the subject of “prevention of extremism,” due to a growing concern from within the governments of European nations, primarily Germany.

In 2012, German Intelligence Chief Gerhard Schindler issued a warning that Europe is at “great risk” of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists. The threat stems from homegrown terrorists. These terrorists are European Muslims that travel to war zones such as Yemen or Afghanistan to obtain training as terrorists. The warning from Schindler came at a time when three terrorists were captured by Spanish authorities. The men were arrested on charges of planning to bomb a shopping mall in Gibraltar, the British island to the south of Spain.

Europe has plenty of reason to be suspicious of radical Islam. On July 19, 2012, a bomb ripped apart a bus in Bulgaria, killing five Israeli tourists. The attack was linked to the terrorist group Hezbollah, which is based out of Lebanon. Despite overwhelming evidence of the threat posed by radical Islam, the Muslim representatives at the German Islam Conference refused to see it.

Instead, the Muslim representatives wanted to focus more on the first issue. The “institutional cooperation between Muslims and the German state” was intended to cover a number of points such as “promoting the introduction of comprehensive Islamic religious introduction in public schools.” The German government has made headway in this area in the past, but the Muslim representatives said they wanted to remove German authorities “meddling” in the process of choosing teachers.

Germany has reason for being selective in whom they allow to teach Islam. Many of the Muslims in Germany are not considered radical, but through indoctrination or improper teaching by extremist groups, there is always the risk of radicalizing by hard-line clerics. Extremist groups do operate within Germany. On March 13, 2013, three Islamist groups were banned from Germany following a series of police raids. No arrests were made, but large sums of cash, as well as German and Arabic propaganda material were discovered.

There was no progress made on “institutional cooperation between Muslims and the German State.” There wasn’t any progress on the second issue either. The German government officials went in with the hope of tackling the issue of violence against women in the Muslim community, forced marriage, and overall gender equality. Instead, the Muslims just wanted to put the focus on the issue of women wearing burkas. They demanded that German employers promise not to discriminate against Muslim women who want to wear burkas to work.

All three of the issues that the German authorities focused on in the conference were bluntly rebutted by the German Muslims. The first, the assimilation issue between Muslims and the government, was dulled by the Muslims just calling on the German government to make more concessions and accusing it of “interfering” with Islamic teaching. The second issue, gender equality, was denied as even being a problem by the Muslims, and instead, they minimized the issue to the point where it was just about getting concessions for burka-wearing women. The third and final issue, dealing with the threat from radical Islam, simply enraged the Muslims. They refused to see the dangers posed by extremists conducting terrorist acts within the nation, and on the broader European continent.

The conference was a failure.

Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich came away from the conference as one of the few who thought it was a positive meeting. His political opponents had other ideas. Social Democratic Party (spd) parliamentary leader Thomas Oppermann said that Friedrich “is only interested in security and terrorism” and has led the [German Islam Conference] to a “dead end.”

The Muslims wanted the conference to end with more concessions and religious freedoms, whereas the Germans were hoping to come away with a stronger sense of security. Neither got what they wanted. Full Muslim integration into German society is not something that is going to happen.

Butting heads with the government is not the only blockade on the path to Muslim integration. The majority of native German people are also opposed to Muslim assimilation.

According to a study by the spd-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation, “Europeans are largely united in their rejection of Muslims and Islam. The significantly most widespread anti-Muslim attitudes are found in Germany, Hungary, Italy and Poland, closely followed by France, Great Britain and the Netherlands.” A case study by the Migration Policy Institute said “Almost half of all Germans said that there are too many Muslims living in the country—even though they make up only 5 percent of the population; that they are too demanding, and that their religion is intolerant.”

Germans are unwilling to accept Muslims if they won’t conform to the German way of life, and the Muslims don’t want to give up their own religion in exchange for living in Germany. That is why the German Islam Conference cannot work. That is why Germany and Islam will continue to clash. Right now, that clash is domestic. Yet prophecy reveals that very soon the clash will take on a much broader application.

The Bible prophesies of a clash between the king of the north—a unified Europe led by Germany—and the king of the south—a league of Islamic nations led by Iran. The Trumpet is offering you two free booklets that cover this subject in vivid detail. They are Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and The King of the South. Order and read these booklets. They will give you insight into why the assimilation of Muslims into Germany will never work.