I try daily to read the Deutsche Welle news to keep up with my German. Another benefit of this news source is that it is much more balanced in its discussion of key world events than the normal US news. They’ve been following a story of late that in Germany if you don’ t pay your church tax, the Catholic church has decided that you are not a faithful member of the church and should therefore have privileges like participating in communion curtailed. As a good baptist (though I’m probably only a baptist as much as Olive Garden is Italian) I like the separation of church and state, in distinction to the recent baptist resurgence has led in the exact opposite direction from its roots. At any rate, the question of financial participation as being a requirement for participation in the sacrament reminds me of questions that were raised a few hundred years back by a German monk. No doubt, this is much different than the indulgence question and I think that giving to the church is very important, but should the church bar those from the eucharist for not paying a tithe? I’m sure many baptists would argue yes, though the Supper doesn’t mean enough for them to matter. I don’t want this to sound anti-catholic, because many of my students accuse me of falling on Catholic (and Orthodox) sides of issues as much as Protestant. I imagine the Evangelische Kirche will have similar problems. Also, should a civil court make the decision? How would they enforce it?
[Update: After thinking about this more, it does hit me that it's not directly about the money. It's more about believers making a public confession that they are not part of the church. It's a double whammy to the church because of the financial implications, but they should rightly be disturbed by church members who denounce their association publically but want to participate privately.]
I note the two bits from DW. I apologize for the German text, but I’m too lazy to go find an English description of the issue (Google translate should suffice):
Ohne Kirchensteuer keine Sakramente
Die katholische Kirche schließt Menschen, die keine Kirchensteuer zahlen, auch aus dem kirchlichen Leben aus. Kann man aus der Kirche austreten und trotzdem katholisch sein? Darüber entscheidet nun ein Gericht.
Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Leipzig trifft am heutigen Mittwoch eine Grundsatzentscheidung zur Kirchensteuer in Deutschland. Es geht um die Frage, ob man sich von der Zahlung der Kirchensteuer befreien, gleichzeitig aber Mitglied der katholischen Kirche bleiben kann. Der Freiburger Kirchenrechtler Hartmut Zapp hatte 2007 seinen Austritt aus der Kirche als Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts erklärt und keine Kirchensteuern mehr gezahlt. Er erklärte jedoch, er sei weiterhin gläubiges Mitglied der Kirche. Dagegen hatte das Erzbistum Freiburg geklagt. Zapp erhielt mit seiner Klage in erster Instanz recht. Der Verwaltungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim entschied aber, dass es keinen teilweisen Kirchenaustritt geben kann. Dagegen hatte Zapp Revision eingelegt.
Sunday, 21 October 2012 at 1:50 pm
Yes it’s been an interesting discussion. The idea of church tax is also foreign to the UK too, though now the traditional churches are running short of money (I’m told the CofE is down to its last $12bn in investments – pause to shed a tear) they are starting to ask the government for money for the first time for 300 years at least for the maintainence of their ancient buildings.
I’m always amazed at how widespread and loose the American usage of the idea of tithing is as a basic obligation of members in respect of giving to the local church community. In the UK (larely under US influence) this usage has been taken over very commonly too (despite much higher tax rates) and despite a very long tradition of opposing ecclesiasitical tithes amongst non-conformists (like Baptists) precisely because it meant collecting an agricultural tax for the benefit of the Anglican parish priest in England. Those churches without tithing look longingly at those that do. Those with strict tithing treat as a threat (one financial dressed up as one theolgical) those who question the validity their sacred principle. I think the relation of these issues to those raised by that German monk is pretty clear: ditch the legalism. I would be more likely to want to discipline a church member who went around insisting on ‘tithing’ (or circumcising baby boys or avoiding pork) as a condition of church membership than one who determinedly proclaims their freedom from the law in such matters (as well, of course, as encouraging them to celebrate their freedom to give out of response to the generous grace of God to towards them in Jesus Christ.)
Monday, 22 October 2012 at 1:56 am
Yeah, perspectives on this side of the pond on tithing are much different. It took a while to get used to the £1 a week thrown in the offering as considered adequate for many members at our church. I can see how in a high tax environment the low-church evangelical standard of the US would be more difficult to maintain, though I’m sure many ministers would love it if their congregations followed it.