Pierre Bayle (1648–1708) took the view that Islam was superior to Judaism and Christianity because it was more tolerant and less superstitious.
Source: Taming the Gods, by Ian Buruma (page 86)
Angela Merkel’s statement that “Muslims in the country must accept that Germany’s culture is based on Christian and Jewish values was, according to Noam Chomsky, “a pretty extreme and racist statement from a major political figure in Europe.” Germany is one of the European countries that has had a “rightwing backlash against Muslim immigrants. Turkey is unlikely to be accepted into the EU, even if it meets all the human rights standards.”
Source: Jerusalem Post, October 28
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
Ironic statement from Chomsky who has defended the right to free speech of Robert Faurisson a French holocaust denier.
“Tolerance” or “Toleration” was a radical idea in Voltaire’s time but does not go far enough in the 21st century.
Bayle wrote before Wahabi Islam came along. The balance of tolerance and superstitition have shifted in the past several centuries. And surely Ms Merkel is right about current German culture. The question is what happens to the culture if the religious elements of its roots fade out, especially in the face of immigration of people whose religion is not faded (and I don’t know if the Muslim immigrants to Germany are more or less secularized or not.)