Funding the Church in Germany

homer911

Interesting article on funding of churches in Germany and renouncing (or not) your faith...


http://www.thepost.ie/ezineSBP/story.asp?storyid=44136

I wonder if it would catch on here?

This strikes me as the extreme opposite of the separation of Church(es) and State. Too much control?

Does anyone know the historical reasoning for this in the first place?

PDN

Our old friend wiki gives us the historical context: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion_in_Germany#Church_Tax

wikipedia wrote:

The church tax is historically rooted in the pre-Christian Germanic custom where the chief of the tribe was directly responsible for the maintenance of priests and religious cults. During Christianization of Western Europe, this custom was adopted by the Christian churches (Arian and Catholic) in the concept of "Eigenkirchen" (churches owned by the landlord) which stood in strong contrast to the central church organization of the Roman Catholic church. Despite the resulting medieval conflict between emperor and pope, the concept of church maintenance by the ruler remained the accepted custom in most Western European countries. In Reformation times, the local princes in Germany became officially heads of the church in Protestant areas and were legally responsible for the maintenance of churches. Only in the 19th century, the financial flows of churches and state got regulated to a point where the churches became financially independent - the church tax was introduced to replace the state benefits the churches had obtained before.

My own opinion is that the church tax is a stupid idea and detrimental to religious freedom.

The idea of separation of Church and State is primarily to prevent the State promoting one brand of religion at the expense of others. The German system gives the State government a powerful tool which it can use to discriminate against religions it doesn't like.

prinz

I have mixed views on it. Can see the pros and the cons. Didn't realise the tax rate was quite that high though.