The Role of the Churches in Germany

The major churches are being deserted by their members. Many Germans are still Christians, but only on paper. However, there continues to be relatively strong demand for ceremonies like baptism, communion, confirmation and church weddings – practically enough, the church provides the backdrop for the major rites of passage in our lives and the people to help us celebrate them.

There is no overlooking Germany’s Christian tradition. Whether in Munich, Hamburg or Cologne – churches and cathedrals dominate the urban landscape. Every quarter in these cities has its own Evangelical and Catholic places of worship. In the country, you can drive into any village, no matter how small, and the church tower will certainly stand out as the highest building.

There are about 26.5 million Catholics and 26.2 million Protestants living in Germany. Together, they make up almost two thirds of the population. However, over the last few decades society has gone through a tremendously rapid secularisation. The churches are losing 200,000 to 300,000 members each year. Since 1973, the Evangelical Church has had to cope with a fall in membership of 5.2 million, which has not been compensated for by the 1.2 million new members who have joined over the same period. People in the east of Germany, shaped by 40 years of socialism, are particularly detached from religion and the church. In this part of the country, which was once overwhelmingly Evangelical, only 28 percent of the population are still church members today.

Avoiding church tax

One peculiarity in Germany is that the church and state are more intimately entwined there than in other countries. Church tax is levied at eight to nine percent of people’s income tax payments, it is collected by the state and passed on to the churches. Many citizens leave the church partly because they do not want to pay this tax any more. As a consequence, the churches, which still hold vast assets, are having to cope with massive losses of income. In many dioceses, churches and real estate are already up for sale.

"In their time of need, the churches are behaving like profit-oriented economic subjects," says Franz Walter, a professor of politics in Göttingen whose research encompasses work on the relationship between state and church. The churches have engaged commercial corporate consultants who are advising them to develop greater service-orientation. As a result, religious communities are to an ever greater extent becoming "service points for the provision of welfare services and ritual acts when they are required in the life cycle of a secularised society that is otherwise indifferent to the churches," as Walter puts it.

Celebrating rites of passage

The churches’ welfare services, which they provide on behalf of the state, include the management of kindergartens, hospitals, retirement and care homes and other social institutions. Citizens are generally happy to make use of these services – regardless of whether they are religious or not. By "ritual acts", Walter means church ceremonies like baptism, communion, confirmation, weddings and funerals. These are the real reason why many members stay in the church.

In 2002, a survey of members of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) found that 95 percent would be willing to have their children baptised. As far as Catholics are concerned, there are 75.5 Catholic baptisms for every 100 children with at least one parent who is Catholic (2001). On the whole, all baptised Catholic children also celebrate first communion in their third year at school. Confirmation between the ages of 13 and 15 is no longer a matter of course. At this age, young people can decide for themselves whether they want to affirm their baptism with the blessing of a bishop. According to statistics from the German Bishops’ Conference, there are 69 confirmations for every 100 first communions.

Only 22.5 percent of Germans religiously active

Among Protestants, the first major ritual after baptism is confirmation, through which young people are accepted as full members of the community between the ages of 13 and 15. Some young people in the Evangelical Church only have themselves baptised directly before confirmation because their parents wanted this to be their own decision. In 2002, 270,000 young people were confirmed in the Evangelical Church, and in 2002 206,000 had themselves confirmed in the Catholic Church, while 282,000 children went to first communion.

The continued adherence to confessional rituals should not conceal the fact that Germans’ attitudes towards the church as an institution are distanced and critical on the whole. In 2003, the "Perspektive Deutschland" (Perspective Germany) online survey included questions about different institutions. According to the results, 40 percent of the population generally trust the Evangelical Church and 45 percent generally distrust it. The survey found that the Catholic Church is trusted by only 27 percent of the population and generally distrusted by 60 percent.

"Only about 22.5 percent of Germans are religiously active and loyal to one of the two major churches," sums up Walter. However, even today active Christians are still a group that can make their presence felt in society. One example: About four million Catholics attend Mass every Sunday – which is about seven times as many people as go to football grounds each week to watch the Bundesliga, Germany’s national football league.

Christina Sticht
works as editor and freelance journalist in Hamburg
Copyright: Goethe-Institut e. V., Online-Redaktion
May 2004

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