So this is an odd 'problem' (maybe even a non-existent problem)....but I'll lay this out from this German news story.
Some political folks (lets just say of a conservative notion) have come to suggest that Islamic Mosques in Germany need to be known and registered.
Naturally, the comeback here is that in the German Basic Law (the Constitution).....it says that freedom of religion is absolute. For an awful long time.....no one has ever said to go and count up and know about the Christian church numbers.
So you go and ask most Muslims about this, and they have two general 'quantity' numbers, which makes this an interesting topic. If you ask official Mosques....it's around 900 in number. However, there's this other definition at play. There are hundreds of minor and lesser known prayer 'rooms' and 'structures' that exist, which might only be known in this neighborhood, or this end of town.....thus not on anyone's national list. Some say (at least from a journalists point) that this number gets up to around 2,500 total.
Who runs these? That goes off into various directions as well. Most are charity-supported. If you asked about the chief guy in charge....the answer might go to some individual, or to a couple of guys.
Why the German suggestion of registering these? I get the impression that fears exist that there is this unknown out there. They'd like to have a list of official and unofficial Mosques and the director of each. But if you open up some requirement like this.....you'd have to go and do the same thing for Christians and various other religions, and then you start to beancount things in a massive way.
Just opening up a Pandora's Box? I kinda think that. You could go into some small village where six Muslim families live and one of the family members owns a restaurant that he offers a 2nd floor room for members to come and pray as a community. Do you really need to get into this guy's business, if this is a personal and private option of his?
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