Yes, there are plenty of examples from around the world that try to address historical wrongs and don't target groups if they don't pay. Not sure why Church membership is a requirement for this.
Yeah, that's stupid. And just because the German state decided to, it doesn't mean they are/were right. Just like the time the German state (in its varied forms) took Church property.
This has nothing to do with American sensibilities. This has everything to do with penalizing existing believers specifically for past wrongs they had nothing to do with. It sounds like the indulgence issue that Martin Luther complained about. Pay money or your chance (or loved one's chance) of salvation is taken away from you. If the German state wants to amend what has been done in the past they should come up with an agreement with the Church (institution with institution) and settle it.
In a republic, the people ARE the State. An agreement has been come up with. It is not simply a matter of a past wrong, but an admitted, on- going obligation.
Thanks for the political lesson. I didn't realized the people ARE the State. Who knew?
This is a moral issue. Holding back salvation because a person forced to pay a bill that was not his/her's is absolutely ridiculous. Why does the Church in Germany hold back salvation for this? That's God's perview. Look at a country like Canada. The federal gov't of Canada has settled with indigenous groups for past wrongs on behalf of Canadians. They don't defer it to individual citizens to pay and threaten to withhold their citizenship if they don't.
This German tax is inadvertently making Bismarck's (the first guy who used the state to harass, persecute and confiscate Church property in Germany...the other guy was you know who and the communists in Eastern Germany) Kulturkampf a reality, no?
It is not a past wrong but a present obligation. If you consent to the King taking your land in exchange for an annual rent payment, and then a republic takes over the rights and obligations of the King, there is an ongoing obligation to the former land owner.
So the same people would be paying through a slightly different system.
Yes, there are plenty of examples from around the world that try to address historical wrongs and don't target groups if they don't pay. Not sure why Church membership is a requirement for this.
Because the German state decided so. There is a tax to pay the state's obligations to the churches, apportioned by the denomination of the payers.
Yeah, that's stupid. And just because the German state decided to, it doesn't mean they are/were right. Just like the time the German state (in its varied forms) took Church property.
It seems like an internal matter for Germany. Not everything need to conform to American sensibilities.
This has nothing to do with American sensibilities. This has everything to do with penalizing existing believers specifically for past wrongs they had nothing to do with. It sounds like the indulgence issue that Martin Luther complained about. Pay money or your chance (or loved one's chance) of salvation is taken away from you. If the German state wants to amend what has been done in the past they should come up with an agreement with the Church (institution with institution) and settle it.
In a republic, the people ARE the State. An agreement has been come up with. It is not simply a matter of a past wrong, but an admitted, on- going obligation.
Thanks for the political lesson. I didn't realized the people ARE the State. Who knew?
This is a moral issue. Holding back salvation because a person forced to pay a bill that was not his/her's is absolutely ridiculous. Why does the Church in Germany hold back salvation for this? That's God's perview. Look at a country like Canada. The federal gov't of Canada has settled with indigenous groups for past wrongs on behalf of Canadians. They don't defer it to individual citizens to pay and threaten to withhold their citizenship if they don't.
This German tax is inadvertently making Bismarck's (the first guy who used the state to harass, persecute and confiscate Church property in Germany...the other guy was you know who and the communists in Eastern Germany) Kulturkampf a reality, no?
It is not a past wrong but a present obligation. If you consent to the King taking your land in exchange for an annual rent payment, and then a republic takes over the rights and obligations of the King, there is an ongoing obligation to the former land owner.