[Vision2020] Pay to Pray

[Art Deco]

  German court backs Catholic 'pay to pray' rule

Published September 26, 2012

Associated Press

BERLIN –  Germany's top administrative court has ruled that Catholics who
opt out of paying religious taxes must automatically leave the church as
well.

The court's verdict Wednesday is a victory for the Catholic Church in
Germany, which receives more than euro4 billion ($5.14 billion) annually
from a surcharge of up to nine percent on income tax bills of registered
Catholics.

The judges at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig ruled against
retired German theologian Hartmut Zapp, who wanted to leave the church as
an institution but remain a member of the Catholic community.

*Germany's bishops announced last week that believers who refuse to pay the
tax are committing a "grave lapse" and as a result won't be able to receive
the sacrament, become godparents or have a religious funeral.*


-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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