church and state in Germany
May. 1st, 2003 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
percivalwell, in Germany, church and state are intertwined. There's no proud laicism as in France, even though most of Germany is atheist now, due to the former East, where the churches have suffered huge losses.
State schools offer religious education. If you're registered as a member of one of the big Christian churches, an amount corresponding to 10% of your taxes is deduced from your income and transferred to the Church coffers. Since the big Christian denominations are so ensconced in the state, all other religions tend to have a hard time. I don't know whether the Wiccan church collects church taxes, but I doubt it. However, acknowledged religions do have special freedoms, such as assembly rights, and get tax breaks that mere communities don't. Scientology is not accepted as a religion in Germany, and I'm quite happy about that, myself.
For administration purposes, there are two main churches: Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran. These are the big churches most people adhere to. There are Jehovah's Witnesses and Latter Day Saints and Baptists, but they are very much minorities. The Catholics play the part of the American Evangelicals, the Big Bad Conservatives, whereas the Protestants take pains to appear liberal and enlightened. Many Germans leave their church when money gets tight. But those people are mainly only nominal church members anyway; they remained in the church so that they could have their kids christened, get white weddings, and an appropriate funeral.
Quite a few people are dissatisfied with this state of affairs - they believe that if the churches depended on members' voluntary contributions, instead of the money collected for them by the state, they would be more open to their flock's needs and views, and priests would care more for their parish. I doubt that - such a stance smacks of entitlement to me, it doesn't signal cooperation.
State schools offer religious education. If you're registered as a member of one of the big Christian churches, an amount corresponding to 10% of your taxes is deduced from your income and transferred to the Church coffers. Since the big Christian denominations are so ensconced in the state, all other religions tend to have a hard time. I don't know whether the Wiccan church collects church taxes, but I doubt it. However, acknowledged religions do have special freedoms, such as assembly rights, and get tax breaks that mere communities don't. Scientology is not accepted as a religion in Germany, and I'm quite happy about that, myself.
For administration purposes, there are two main churches: Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran. These are the big churches most people adhere to. There are Jehovah's Witnesses and Latter Day Saints and Baptists, but they are very much minorities. The Catholics play the part of the American Evangelicals, the Big Bad Conservatives, whereas the Protestants take pains to appear liberal and enlightened. Many Germans leave their church when money gets tight. But those people are mainly only nominal church members anyway; they remained in the church so that they could have their kids christened, get white weddings, and an appropriate funeral.
Quite a few people are dissatisfied with this state of affairs - they believe that if the churches depended on members' voluntary contributions, instead of the money collected for them by the state, they would be more open to their flock's needs and views, and priests would care more for their parish. I doubt that - such a stance smacks of entitlement to me, it doesn't signal cooperation.
