A senior member of the anti-Islamisation Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Brandenburg has quit his position after he revealed that he has converted to Islam.
AfD politician Arthur Wagner, who was formerly a member of the party’s National Council, tendered his resignation earlier this week after revealing his new faith.
The move has been seen as odd by many as Wagner had previously attempted to recruit Russian-Germans into the party ranks last year by making a video in which he spoke in Russian of his Christian credentials, Tagesspiegel reports.
In the same video, Wagner attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for opening the borders of Germany to mass migration in 2015. “Germany is mutating to another country,” he said.
AfD spokesman Daniel Friese said that the party had no problem with Wagner’s choice to convert to Islam and Wagner, himself, said that no one from the party had compelled him to resign from the National Council.
“For us, that is not a problem,” Friese said, and added: “I do not think it’s a problem for the majority in the party either.”
The AfD has been noted for their hard line against the Islamisation of Germany including proposing policies like banning the construction of minarets as well as banning halal slaughter and public calls to prayer.
Anti Mass Migration AfD Calls On Muslims To Renounce Political Islam, Sharia https://t.co/vpGCnprezn pic.twitter.com/pyH1Z6pS5m
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 16, 2016
In 2016, AfD co-leader Alexander Gauland said: “Islam is not a religion like Catholic or Protestant Christianity.”
“It is always intellectually linked with taking over the state,” he added.
Along with Mr. Gauland, one of the most prominent members of the party to speak out against Islamisation has been Member of the European Parliament Beatrix Von Storch.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News last year, Ms. von Storch said: “Muslims who accept and embrace our liberal secular society are not the problem. It is political Islam that we take issue with. That is, Muslims who wish to force their religion, laws, and values on Germany. We do not want sharia law or separate Islamist political institutions in our country.”
Following last year’s national election, the AfD became the third largest party in the German parliament. Now that it looks increasingly likely that Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union will form a coalition with the Social Democrats, the AfD will become the official opposition.
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