German bishops threaten excommunication to those who avoid church tax
Broadcast Wed 26 Sep 2012 at 7:30am Wednesday 26 Sep 2012 at 7:30am Wed 26 Sep 2012 at 7:30am
Andrew West: Germany's Catholic bishops say no pay, no play. Germans who evade their church tax will in effect be excommunicated. That's the top story today on the Religion and Ethics Report. Hello from me, Andrew West.
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Let's go first to Germany where that country's Catholic bishops are meeting now. They've issued an edict that bars Catholics who don't pay their church tax from being married in a Catholic Church, from being godparents, from being Sunday School teachers and even from making confession and receiving last rites. Now unless they formally opt out, Germans—and we're talking here about Catholics, Protestants, and Jews—pay about 10 per cent of their taxes to the religious institution of their faith. For the Catholics this equals something like $6 billion a year. But the sex abuse scandal in the church has caused a haemorrhage of members. It peaked in 2010 at 180,000 people. It's now about 120,000 people leaving a year. Their departure means a big financial hit for the church because it relies on that tax for almost two-thirds of its income.
The bishops' edict also coincides with a case due to be heard today in Germany's top administrative court. It involves a Catholic theologian who wants to opt out of the church tax without being excommunicated. Christian Weisner is spokesman for the German branch of the international group We are Church. Mr Weisner, what do you make of the bishops' edict?
Christian Weisner: This is really a harsh step and I think it is a wrong step, the wrong signal at the wrong moment of time of the German bishops. In Germany, as in many other parts of the world, the Roman Catholic Church is still in a deep crisis especially after the exposure of the sexual abuse and now the bishops in Germany tried to start a dialogue with the people in the church but this new regulation is the wrong signal at the wrong time.
Andrew West: What do you think is behind the decision by the bishops?
Christian Weisner: The Catholic Church in Germany is quite a rich church. We have a volume of two billion Euros church tax per year. So that is really a lot of money and a lot of that money is going to the Vatican because Germany is subsidising the Vatican together with the United States and together with Italy. So I think the financial reason is really the reason why the bishops introduced this new regulation.
Andrew West: As a Catholic though, don't you have an obligation to support the church in the work that it does?
Christian Weisner: Yes but I think there are many ways to do that. You can give your money when you are at the Sunday service and the Sunday mass. You can give your donations to aid projects. You can give your money to the local church, but the church system in Germany is a unique one. You give money to the bishop and the bishops decide about all that money and I think many people, they have left the church not because of religious reasons but that was their only way to protest against the activities of the bishops. People in Germany, they want to be Catholic but they don't want that the bishops get all the money and the bishops…is deciding which projects are financed by the church.
Andrew West: Mr Weisner, do you think the church tax makes the church itself a bit lazy if it doesn't have to actively go out and get voluntary donations from the members of the church? Does the hierarchy become a little bit lazy?
Christian Weisner: I think that's the case because at the moment only 12 per cent of all church members are really going to the Sunday service so the hierarchy is making advantage of those… at…who are paying church tax but who don't use the church buildings and the church services. I'm in favour of church tax system because there is a kind of justice between rich parishes and poor parishes. But we need much more transparency and at the same time, we should be aware that theological speaking, all baptised people, all baptised Catholics, they stay Catholics until their death. And so it is threatening when the bishops say you won't get a Christian burial without paying church taxes. Pay and pray, that is not the right message of the gospel.
Andrew West: With all of these people who are leaving the Catholic Church as you say about 120,000 every year, are they going to the Protestant Church or are they just dropping out of religious life? Are they going anywhere else?
Christian Weisner: It's only a very small number of people who are going to other churches. Most of the people are just leaving the bigger churches but they're still seen as Christians. But they don't want to be church taxpayers anymore.
Andrew West: And the result of that means that if they do turn up at the Catholic Church and the priest knows that they have not paid the tax, well what would happen?
Christian Weisner: You can't be a godfather or godmother. You can't get a wedding in the church. You can't get a Christian burial. If you are a teacher of religious education you can't be that anymore. So there really is sanctions, there's a kind of punishment when you're not paying your church tax.
Andrew West: What about if you walk to the front of the church during Holy Communion? Would you be given communion?
Christian Weisner: I think, yes, because of the priests, he wouldn't know your name. Now the parishes are so big in Germany because of the lack of priests, so I think the priests don't know whether you have paid your church tax last year or not. So actually these regulations can't be fulfilled in all the details.
Andrew West: Well Christian Weisner, thank you very much for being on the program.
Christian Weisner: Thank you.
Andrew West: And this is the Religion and Ethics Report. You're with me, Andrew West.
German Catholic bishops have issued an edict barring Catholics who do not pay their church tax from being married in a Catholic church, from being god-parents and Sunday school teachers, and even from making confession and receiving last rites. Unless they formally opt out, Germans – including Catholics, Protestants and Jews – pay 8-10 per cent of their taxes to the religious institution of their faith. For the Catholic Church, this amounts to around $A6 billion a year. But the sex abuse scandal in the Church has provoked a haemorrhage of members, peaking at 180,000 people in 2010, and now around 120,000 people a year. Their departure means a big financial hit for the church, which relies on the tax for almost two-thirds of its income.
The bishops' edict coincides with a case, due to be heard today – Wednesday, 26 September – in Germany's top administrative court, of a Catholic theologian who wants to opt out of the church tax without being excommunicated. Christian Weisner, spokesman for the German branch of the international group We Are Church, opposes the bishops' edict.
Christian Weisner
Mark Franklin, Producer
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