Berkley Center

As far as architecture is concerned, Europe is blessed with some of the oldest and most magnificent churches and cathedrals on the planet. As far as willingness to dedicate resources to these structures, Europeans are generally hesitant to empty their pocketbooks for the cause. In the ever more secularized society which comprises Germany today, church communities depend on the money that they receive from their members through church taxes (Kirchensteuer), which are collected by public tax authorities. While this tradition has a long history in Germany, as an American I did not expect that church tax would be regularly collected alongside income tax.

Recognized churches are given the option to decide if they want the government to collect their fees for them, and the two churches with the largest followings in Germany, the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical (Protestant) Church, have both accepted this offer as a way to minimize their own administrative costs. As a member of either of these churches, the fees paid are only distributed to one’'s own denomination and go towards compensating clergy members and church upkeep.

I was surprised when I was asked to declare my religion when registering my permanent address with the German government. I had not heard of church tax, and I kept asking myself: “why should the state care to know what my religion is?” I have now discovered the answer: “taxes.” If one declares herself to be Roman Catholic or Protestant, then she must also pay church tax.

While this system does help Roman Catholic and Protestant communities receive funding in a timely and dependable fashion, physical church structures are so plentiful that many still do not receive the funds required to meet their needs. During my recent trip to Germany'’s eastern-most town, Görlitz, I experienced this first hand. The local Protestant cathedral was desperately attempting to raise revenue through tourists. I was attracted by their offer of a beautiful vista and paid the €2 admission fee so that I could climb to the viewing platform between the towers. One hundred and thirty-something steps later, our guide began to explain a few of the other intricacies of church financing. He related that despite the fact that the cathedral generates a substantial amount of income through donations, it is not truly able to benefit from them because all donations are sent to a central church authority and then redistributed as seen fit.

This entire experience highlighted for me the difficulties which many churches are facing in Germany. On one hand they have ever shrinking active congregations, but on the other hand they have extremely rich histories, amazing architecture, and a small number of dedicated individuals who are willing to go to great lengths to ensure their continuing existence. Churches are often put in a difficult position by the fact that they must become sightseeing attractions in order to remain religious centers. Nonetheless, the current system, which relies on taxation and donation collection, does guarantee that all Catholic and Protestant churches, even if they are in small cities and rarely visited, will receive some funding. Perhaps this is indeed the best way to keep the largest number of churches open and active? The motivation for maintaining the churches as churches is easy for me to understand, but I imagine that in the future, Germans will continue to face difficult decisions about just how many church structures they can afford and want to maintain.