The German government is working on a draft law that would put an end to state financial support for churches, reports the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
According to the report, the draft is expected to be presented in the autumn.
State financial support for churches is a legacy of the secularisation process that began more than 200 years ago when church property and territories were confiscated. As a result, the state became obligated to compensate the churches, with several hundred million euros allocated annually for this purpose.
Except for the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, all federal states contribute to the salaries of clergy, including bishops and pastors. A significant portion of the funds is also allocated for the maintenance of churches, with the total amount estimated at around half a billion euros annually.
The obligation to end these payments was already foreseen by the Weimar Constitution over a century ago, and the German constitution retained this provision in Article 140.
In this context, the state would be required to pay a certain amount to halt regular transfers. To achieve this, the federal government would need to establish a legal framework, and each federal state would then negotiate individual agreements with the churches.