Bishops' Edict Angers Catholics in Germany BERLIN - Matters of faith have been much on German minds in recent times with debate raging among its Muslim and Jewish minorities over a court's challenge to the practice of infant circumcision and, as I wrote in my latest Page Two column, over the country's response to the contentious, American-made video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad that has stirred anger across the Muslim world. But, in a development that has made fewer international headlines, many of Germany's Roman Catholics are becoming increasingly incensed by an effort endorsed by the Vatican to ensure that churchgoers continue to pay a mandatory tax. The decades-old church tax, as it is known, earns the country's Protestant and Catholic churches a total of some €9 billion a year. Germans can avoid paying the levy - up to 9 percent of their assessed income tax - if they formally leave the church. As of Monday, Germany's Roman Catholic Bishops have decreed, those who leave the church may no longer qualify for religious ceremonies such as a Christian burial and may not partake in confession or communion; become a godfather at baptism or confirmation; or hold office within the church. But it will now be open to them to discuss a return to the fold with their priests. Activist groups have protested loudly against the edict, saying it would deepen unease and anger within the ranks of Catholic churchgoers prompted by sexual abuse scandals and accusations of cover-ups. The decree reflects growing concern within the Roman Catholic hierarchy at the steady exodus of the faithful affecting both major denominations. In 2010, more than 181,000 German Catholics and roughly 150,000 Protestants chose to officially abandon their churches. The two churches account for around 49 million people - just under 60 percent of the population - almost evenly divided between Protestants and Catholics. Their worshipers' taxes make their churches some of Europe's richest. When people leave the fold, the Roman Catholic Bishops said, their action "fills the church with concern."