Can you expand on what that is, or link to an English source? My google returns are in German and I barely remember how to order beer in German from my high school days.
I tried to find some balanced links in English. This is the best I can find on the fly:
Short version: the police gets powers it should not hold, in my opinion. This is scary stuff.
The state of Hesse is also doing weird shit, preemptive policing is high on their list. In April, they “bought” (i.e., I think they licensed a copy - I really hope this is a local installation…) Palantir’s “Gotham” software for an undisclosed sum.
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Thanks, man.
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Much closer in time and place is the history of Charlemagne and his acceleration of the conversion of Western and Central Europe to Christianity. The Submission of Bavaria to Charlemagne is probably key here, and if I understand my history correctly that is where Bavaria (and Franconia in general) began conversion en masse.
Further down in the comments, I posted
. It has to do with the heritage of being founded as a dutchy of the Holy Roman Empire in the 6th century CE
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The reasons for the existence of the German “church tax” go back to the start of the 19th century, when most of the churches’ possessions (large swathes of countryside, monasteries, convents, etc.) were secularised, i.e., taken away from the churches and given to the secular authorities (princes). This was a method of compensating these for the loss, to France, of their own possessions west of the river Rhine.
This basically left the churches without an obvious source of income and – the idea of the separation of religion and government not having been as well-established then as it is now – led the secular government (or governments, since Germany at the time didn’t exist as a unified political entity) to step in and to finance the upkeep of churches and the salaries of church personnel through a tax on the respective congregations. This arrangement worked out pretty well for the churches (especially since the church tax is deducted directly from one’s income whether or not one actually attends church services or not, as long as one is officially on the books as a member of a church that participates in the scheme) and they managed to keep it up through the various intervening times of political upheaval in Germany.
Today the system is coming under increasing amounts of criticism since more people believe that the large churches should be self-funding. Obviously the churches are, for the most part, not enthusiastic about the idea of abolishing the church tax, since, if they had to collect it themselves, probably many more people would reconsider whether church membership is worth the cost to them (usually between 8% or 9% of whatever you pay as income tax), and it might precipitate even greater declines of church membership than what we’re seeing already.
Finally, churches do receive tax money besides the “church tax” as subsidies because they run charitable organisations, hospitals, kindergartens etc., that the state would otherwise have to run itself and spend tax money on directly. It is debatable whether that is a great idea (e.g., because churches as employers tend to have regulations that are really unfair and discriminatory to employees, which wouldn’t be tenable if these people were instead employed by the government) but again due to entrenched historical precedents this is very difficult to abolish.
TL;DR: In theory in Germany there is separation between church and state. The “church tax” is a weird accident of history. Churches are an important part of the social fabric and that also comes with problems.
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Amen, brother (or sister)!
Especially, since German dioceses are, beside the Vatican, the richest in the world today.
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Well, we have those too in France, but the accounting of said charitable organisations is separate from the religious structures. I’m puzzled by the implication that it is not the case in Germany.
Stay puzzled. Because if you dig deeper, you will loose your faith.
The case of social endeavours by the church is brought forth every time, and it is not really a good one. It’s a fraud, some might say.
Also, did anyone mention yet that they have special exemptions from otherwise binding law? They are allowed to discriminate against people on the basis of their faith. You can be fired by the church-affiliated employer for, e.g., getting divorced.
It’s a total mess.
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I’m pretty sure that even here in Germany the non-religious charitable activities of a church must be accounted for separately from the religious activities, especially since the religious activities are funded from the “church tax” and the charitable activities are funded separately using dedicated funds. If you’re a bishop you don’t get to pay yourself a bonus from the kindergarten money.
At least the Archbishops have to swear an oath of fealty to the state (mandated by the Reichskonkordat) … /s
Archbishop Dr. Wölki swearing fealty to the State of Berlin:
(jump to 13:00)
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