BBC Radio Four reported this morning of how some Germans are now telling the tax authorities they are not a memebr of a church so then don't have to pay church tax.
In Germany memebrs of recognised churches pay a church tax.
Large numbers in recent years have been exiting the churches and therefore no longer pay the church tax.
But a new tax scam has been discovered. It could only happen in Germany. Tax payers are informing State authorities that they have left the church and no longer wish to pay church tax. But they continue to attend church.
Last year the German Catholic Bishops' Conference wrote a pastoral letter on the issue pointing out that people who do not pay German State church tax can no longer call themselves members of the Catholic Church. It means they cannot hold church positions or be God parents.
Nor can they celebrate a sacramental marriage in a catholic church.
Many years ago the writer Heinrich Böll wrote an interesting story on the dilemma.
What about receiving Holy Communion, the Sacrament of Reconcilliation, a Christian burial?
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On the other hand, when I married in a registry office, without having obtained a dispensation from the church with regard to my priestly status, I was - according to Canon Law - formally excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Despite this, the Church continued to have church tax deducted from me here. When I inquired, I was told that excommuncation from the Church side did not mean that I was no longer a church member (though this is the only meaning I can understand for such a move) and that I would have to take the step of formally leaving the church (which was formally denying me access to communion) if I no longer wished to pay church tax. A step I subsequently took.
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