Is it true that in Europe, the government pays for the churches?

Question

In America, churches must take donations from parishioners, and have bake sales, and things like that. I was told that Europeans didn't understand why we had to do that in America, and that in Europe, the government gives money to the churches.

One of my professors who visited Europe said the churches were big and expensive, but there may only be a handful of people go! Whereas here, if there were only a handful of people going to the church, the church would have to be small and simple, because they couldn't afford a big church.

Is this true?

Answer 1

In some of them. It's a maze of different laws.

France is by far the most secular -- France's separation of church and state, its secularism, is far more aggressive and thorough than the United States.

In Germany, governments tax people according to their denomination and make donations to churches accordingly. Similarly, in Finland, a certain small percentage of everyone's tax is given to the Lutheran Church, except for people who specifically opt-out of that arrangement.

I believe Spain still financially supports the Catholic Church. I'm unclear on what the status of the Anglican Church is -- I know Parliament actually has some control over church doctrine, but I'm not clear on whether it funds the church substantially.

The answer to your question is, generally, yes. However, a notable exception if France. There are probably other exceptions.
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Ooops, cancel that, Spain ended is subsidy to the church, although citizens can donate to the church optionally using the government:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/22/news/spain.php
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Second edit... Here's a summary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax

Answer 2

I only know about the UK, and although officially we are a religious country (the Queen is the head of the Church of England) we do not fund the church. However, the Anglican church owns a lot of land, which is an extremely valuable commodity here (because there's so little of it) and that is how it manages to keep going depite having very small congragations.

Ironically, despite being an officially religious country, Britain is far more secular than the US. Fewer than 10% of the population ever attends church, and politcians rarely admit to being religious (assuming they are) because it tend to bias the electorate against them.

Answer 3

Yes, this is true. There is a tax that is levied and that tax money pays for the official church of the nation in most European nations. Most nations in Europe still allow for freedom of worship/religion, but when you pay taxes you are paying money into the state's religion. There are some European nations that allow citizens to opt out of paying this tax (and some nations where the tax is just placed in with other taxes so citizens do not actually know how much or how little of their money goes into the state religion).

In the US there is no state religion and as such all religious groups have to ask for donations from those who attend them, whether it is a Bible Study group, church, mosque, synagogue, temple, mandir, gurdwara, satsang, sangha, samgha, etc, etc, etc. Thus most Americans do not understand this idea at all. And this concept is mainly why the First Amendment exists.....to ensure that as Americans we A) have the freedom to practice whatever religion we please and B) no one has to have their tax money given to a religion that we would not want it to. It was decided that the individual knows where they want their money to go when it comes to matters of religion and thus the government should not be granting tax money to religious organizations, religious groups, and other religious entities (which then one can understand why some people got upset when President Bush set up the White House Office for Faith-Based Initiatives). In the past religious groups, organizations, and other entities who were involved with community projects and other charitable works that helped the community could receive federal funding provided that they A) did not limit their services to just those within their religious group/organization/entity and B) that they complied with all Federal Laws that secular charities, organizations, and groups must comply with. The Faith-Based Initiatives of President Bush allows for Federal tax dollars to be given to religious groups, organizations, and other entities without having to comply with A and B as mentioned above AND it allows the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives to decide which groups it "deems" worthy to receive the funding. Check out where the money was going in your State (it's all public information). It will show who is receiving the money and how much they receive. You can then also go State by State if you so desire. In some States you'll see that the State Office of Faith-Based Initiatives has tried to ensure that a wide diversity of religious groups are receiving the funding so long as they are actually performing community and charitable services, however in other States you'll see that some of the same groups that receive funding in one State but have branches in other States are NOT receiving the funding. If you check the public records you'll see where the same organizations applied in that State for the funding and were denied. The fact that none of this has even caused the media to take a closer look and ensure that if we are going to actually change the understood meaning of the First Amendment that we'd atleast want to make sure that our tax dollars were being granted equally to all religious groups and that the government was not show a bias.

Answer 4

Yes, in some European countries the 'official church' gets the majority of it's funds from Government sources. In Finland it's the Lutheran Church, for example. There are other indpendant churches that do not.

Answer 5

I would imagine that it would be true in places like England where the Anglican Church is the state religion.

While all European nations have freedom of worship if they also have a official state religion I imagine that it receives some perks. subsidising churches might be one of them.

Answer 6

Funny you mention that. Today I read in the Srimad Bhagavatam translated by Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada that According to Krishna (God) the government should help all religious organizations (bonafide ones) to spread the mission.