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Data Portal www.fowid.de Launched!

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Fowid flyer

What percentage of the German population believes in the resurrection of the dead, the power of stars, or rebirth? Are the majority of Catholics against abortion? What distinguishes the one-third of Germans who officially no longer belong to any religion?

So far, empirical data on the social roots of worldviews has only been available to a small group of experts. This has now changed: On November 11, 2005, the data platform www.fowid.de of "Forschungsgruppe Weltanschauungen in Deutschland" (fowid - Research Group on Worldviews in Germany), initiated by the Giordano Bruno Stiftung, was officially launched. On this occasion, a press conference took place in the premises of the Federal Press Office in Berlin, in which primarily representatives of denominationally affiliated media took part. The research group was represented on the podium at the conference by Prof. Dr. Günter Kehrer, Dr. Michael Schmidt-Salomon, and Dr. Carsten Frerk. The event was presented by Mrs. Bungert of the "Berliner Pressekonferenz".

During the following two days, several fowid members spoke at the expert conference "Umworbene 'dritte Konfession' - Befunde über die Konfessionsfreien in Deutschland" ("Courted 'Third Denomination' - Findings on the Denomination-Free in Germany"): Dr. Horst Groschopp, who also chaired the conference, spoke on the topic "Wer sind die Konfessionsfreien?" ("Who are the Denomination-Free?"), Dr. Carsten Frerk explained the "Empirics of Worldviews" and in this context had the opportunity to present the fowid website to an interested professional public for the first time. Dr. Michael Schmidt-Salomon gave empirically supported considerations on the topic "'Irgendwie sind wir doch alle Humanisten...' ("'Aren't we all humanists somehow...''). Dr. Michael Terwey presented  "Empirical Findings on Worldviews of the Denomination-Free", Prof. Dr. Johannes Neumann concluded the conference with reflections on the topic: "Organizing Humanism? Attempting a Résumé". All contributions to the Berlin conference, which was organized by the Politische Akademie of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in cooperation with the Humanistische Akademie Berlin and the Giordano Bruno Stiftung, will be published in the journal "humanismus aktuell" in 2006.

Website: www.fowid.de