00:00Are there more mosques than churches in Catalonia?
00:06Claims spread online
00:08alleges that the Autonomous Community of Catalonia
00:10in northeastern Spain
00:12now contains more mosques than churches.
00:15This picture,
00:16which appears in posts on X and Instagram,
00:18among others,
00:19also says that 120 Catalan schools teach Islam.
00:23The Catalan government's website
00:25contains an official religious map of the region,
00:27tracking established places of worship
00:30across religions which hold services
00:32at least once a year.
00:34Catholic churches are by far
00:36the most common type of religious centre in Catalonia,
00:39totalling 5,665 or 78%.
00:43Evangelical or Protestant churches
00:45come in second place,
00:46with 889 places of worship.
00:49Islam, including mosques,
00:51is in third place,
00:52with 326 religious centres,
00:54meaning that, no,
00:55there aren't more mosques than churches
00:57in Catalonia.
00:58The social media posts suggest
01:00that the claims originate
01:01from Spanish news outlet,
01:03Eda TV News.
01:04A search of its website
01:05takes us to an article
01:06about the supposed Islamisation of Catalonia.
01:09It contains a similar quote
01:11attributed to Julia Calvet,
01:12a politician from the far-right Vox Party.
01:15She says that there are Catalan municipalities
01:17with more mosques than churches,
01:19such as Salt.
01:20While Salt does have more mosques
01:22than Catholic churches,
01:24combining churches from different denominations
01:26puts churches on top again.
01:28Calvet also reportedly refers
01:30to some 120 schools
01:32teaching students
01:33an Arabic language
01:34and Moroccan culture course.
01:36The programme does exist
01:37as per an agreement
01:38between Spain and Morocco,
01:40and the Spanish news agency
01:41Europa Press
01:42reported earlier this year
01:43that 120 public education centres
01:46in Catalonia
01:47would teach the course
01:48between 2024 and 2025.
01:51However,
01:51this is a language and culture class,
01:53not an Islam class
01:55as the social media posts claim.
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