No tax, no blessing: German church insists on levy

mail.com ^ | 9-28-2012 | Juergen Baetz

[GeronL]

intertwining the church and state is just evil

[MondoQueen]

That’s what I love about this country. We do not have a state religion, where we have to pay a tax to the state, which then doles it out to the church of state.

[A.A. Cunningham]

The Church tax in Germany explained.

[Lurker]

They’ll be selling Indulginces again soon.

[A.A. Cunningham]

They’ll be selling Indulginces(sic) again soon.

And you'll still be wallowing in ignorance.

[Fiji Hill]

Does the tax apply to Muslims?

[Lurker]

Indulgences will be first. Then they’ll be taxing the prostitutes. Oh wait, the Germans already do that.

[Forrestfire]

This tax is nothing new! My wife is German, and when I was stationed there back in the 80’s she decide to “quit” the church and save the taxes, besides we were attending church on base. Well, the stops collecting the “Church” Tax, and immediately replaced it with the “Art & Culture” Tax!!! Typical government!!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A decree issued last week by the country's bishops cast a spotlight on the longstanding practice in Germany and a handful of other European countries in which governments tax registered believers and then hand over the money to the religious institutions.

I guess the German Roman Catholic Church doesn't believe in all that free-will schmarnn.

[piytar]

In fact, He could not have been clearer on that point...

[stevem]

This sounds dangerously close to simony from days of yore. This is the practice of selling and buying indulgences.

This was one of the things that caused Martin Luther to drive down a different road.

It might have helped that the Pope was marrying off his daughter so the boys could arrange to murder her husband and, thus, take possession of a few more acres of land.

Still, we should not lose sight of the most corrupt of religions extant i.e. the Religion of Peace.

[BipolarBob]

It’s the pay to play tax.

[Rio]

In Germany, Catholics, Protestants and Jews pay a surcharge of up to nine percent on their income tax bills

Not muzzies?

[svcw]

German Christian and Catholic churches who refuse prayer and blessings for money are neither.

[T-Bird45]

Good article showing the prescience and wisdom of our Founders in the First Amendment. Of course, they or their forebears had already experienced religious persecution in Europe and came to America to escape it.

[Jacquerie]

Several states collected taxes on behalf of churches after ratification of the Constitution as they had before. There is nothing in the Constitution to prevent the States from doing so again if the people wished to.

[TurboZamboni]

I bet not. That would probably be “insulting the prophet”.

[jimtorr]

The practice of selling sacraments is one of the things that caused Martin Luther to Protest.

[jimtorr]

Thanks for the link with the explanation, A.A. The money goes to either the church or the govt.

Still, I may be a bit too independent to care about the distinction. If a church is levying a tax on me thru the govt., it has no right to then ask for tithing or donations.

My ancestors fled, at various times, the Church of Scotland, Church of England and Lutheran Church. Thanks to my mother, I am even a second cousin of the direct line of Patrick Henry. She even grew up with them.