Replacement of state benefits: Parliamentary groups must come up with their own proposals

Commenting on the rejection by a majority in the German Bundestag of a draft bill on principles for the redemption of state contributions to religious societies (Drs. 17/8791), Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, said on Friday in Berlin: “The political discussions must not be allowed to fall asleep now. The Basic Law contains a clear stipulation here. Ignoring it is unconstitutional. The parliamentary groups that voted against the bill are now called upon to bring their own proposals to the political debate.” In its rejection, the plenary followed the recommendation of the Committee on Internal Affairs (Drs. 17/13156). “From our perspective, the fundamental reorganization of the relationships and also the financial relationships between the state and religious and ideological communities is unavoidable,” continued Frieder Otto Wolf. “The existing regulations no longer fit our times.” A growing number of citizens lack any understanding of why there are still financial transfers to Christian churches and certain other religious communities in the hundreds of millions and with reference to princely agreements that are over 200 years old. Politicians must therefore finally devote themselves to the task of responding to this constitutional mandate and creating a law for a fundamental renewal that replaces those benefits that can no longer be justified. This is part of a broader socio-political context: a modern basis for the equal promotion of the contributions of all religious and ideological communities to the general culture is also overdue due to the growing diversity of denominational and ideological communities in Germany. “Not only in view of the constitutional mandate, but also in the interests of our entire society, in which there are also more and more non-denominational people, all parties should pull together here and take on this almost 100-year-old requirement in the Basic Law,” Wolf concluded.