It is a paradox of modern Germany that church and state remain so intimately tied. That bond persists more and more awkwardly, it seems, as the church’s relationship with followers continues to fray amid growing secularization.
Last week one of Germany’s highest courts rankled Catholic bishops by ruling that the state recognized the right of Catholics to leave the church ”” and therefore avoid paying a tax that is used to support religious institutions. The court ruled it was a matter of religious freedom, while religious leaders saw the decision as yet another threat to their influence on modern German society.
With its ruling the court also dodged the thorny issue of what happens when a parishioner formally quits the church, stops paying taxes, but then wants to attend services anyway. The court said that, too, was a matter of religious freedom, a decision that so rankled religious leaders fearful of losing a lucrative revenue stream that they made clear, right away, that taxes are the price for participation in the church’s most sacred rituals: no payments, no sacraments.
Where’s Luther when you need him?
The tax is not just applied to Catholic parishes but to all legally recognized churches.
In order to avoid the tax a person must make a formal declaration that they have left their church and are no longer active in the communion and no longer hold that belief.
When they subsequently present themselves for the Sacraments it means a. they lied to public officials and really are still Catholic or b. they are lying to the Church and are receiving the Sacrament under false pretenses. I don’t think either is acceptable.
If you make an official public declaration that you are no longer a member of a church in order to stop paying for the support of that church why should that church not assume you were telling the truth and therefore no longer a member in good standing and a communicant?
from the Gospel according to Matthew:
“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven;
[b]but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.[/b] ” (Matt 10:31-33)
If you tell the government, and all men, that you are not a part of the Church, and are doing this not under threat of death but only economic inconvenience, then the Church should take you at your word. As will Jesus. If you don’t like the law, lobby and protest against it.
When I typed law, I realized I was very unspecific. If you don’t like the [b]tax[/b] law, then work to change it.