GERMANS are ditching the Roman Catholic Church in ever-increasing numbers, according to a new survey.
Ratzinger has much to look glum about
The number of people leaving the Church jumped by nearly 50 percent in 2010 as the Roman Catholic abuse scandal escalated.
Some 181,000 people quit their memberships last year, up from 124,000 in 2009, according to stats released by the Church.
Over the past 20 years, the number of members of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany has fallen from 28.3 million to 24.6 million or 30.2 percent of the country’s population in 2010, the data showed.
The numbers are easily tracked because members pay a church tax unless they formally leave the congregation — the same reason the declining membership has led to increasing budget shortfalls for the church.
The new figures come ahead of a planned visit by Pope Ratzinger on Sept 22-25, when he is scheduled to visit the cities of Freiburg, Erfurt and Berlin where he will deliver a speech to German parliament.
Germans are not required to say why they want to strike their church membership, but many have blamed the reports of sexual and physical abuse of hundreds of children by clergy that surfaced last year.
The diocese that recorded the highest member loss last year was Ratzinger’s former diocese, Munich and Freising, where 21,600 people alone left the church.
The Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, late last year begged forgiveness for “everything those working for the church have done” as he presented a report that showed more than 250 priests and religion teachers sexually or physically abused children in the diocese over the past decades. He said:
We want to learn from our bad mistakes and misconduct of the past.
In its response to the abuse scandal, Germany’s Bishops Conference has publicly and repeatedly showed remorse, changed the relevant guidelines for the clergy and offered up to €5,000 ($6,900) compensation to victims of abuse by clergy or church officials while they were minors, but it gave no total number of victims.
Austria, which taxes church members in a way similar to those in Germany also saw a significant hike in the number of departures. Figures published by the Austrian Bishop’s Conference earlier this year said 87,000 Austrian Catholics left in 2010, a 64 percent increase over the 53,000 who formally had their names struck from church registries in 2009.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
August 1st, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Good to hear that more and more people are seeing the light. But I’m staggered that the church actually levies a tax on its members. And all for the privilege of being lied to, harangued and bullied from the pulpit, asked for yet more money when the collection dish comes around every Sunday, and having their children abused by the priests. Talk about a scam. When L. Ron Hubbard said the quickest way to become a millionaire was by inventing a religion, he probably had the RCC’s example in mind.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:12 pm
I grew up in the UK but my mother came originally from Germany. I didn’t receive a religious upbringing, and I recall my utter disbelief on learning that some of my cousins in Germany were Catholic. It just seemed totally unbelievable. I’m sure it was largely a tradition with them, to conform to cultural norms. It’s good to see so many of the German people deciding to drop the charade. I hope the pope’s visit in September will increase the exodus.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Oh dear, poor old Ratty. When Karol Wotzizface took over the Crazy Chair as JP2 there was a huge surge in the number of Polish joining the Catholic church.
Maybe now Ratty will see that kiddy-fiddling is not such a good idea and do something about it.
OT. An OpEd piece in todays Times draws attention to the plight of muslims in Finland. Apparently they are having problems with this years Ramadam on account sunset being at midnight and sunrise being just minutes later.
Poor bastards. Still I’m doing my bit to help out my muslim neighbours. I know that they are not allowed any food till later tonight, so I’m having a barbecue this afternoon so at least they can smell mine. Mmmmm sausages. Baked potato.
August 1st, 2011 at 1:14 pm
AC, as an ex-resident of the Farterland (see what I did there?), it’s actually the government that collects the tax, and passes it on to the church. Many Germans who have nothing to do with the church still pay this tax, since apathy seems endemic in the German mindset (they somehow don’t seem fazed at being charged €5.00 for using a cash machine not on their bank’s network), also they’d have to pay legal fees to formally withdraw (although the amount they’d save in tax would greatly offset this).
Remigius… Finland / Muslims… tee, hee, hee…
August 1st, 2011 at 2:15 pm
I am sure Ratzi and Co will have an explanation for the dropping numbers. I hope the Cloyn Report got publicity in Germany. He can’t be all that unhappy as he is still wearing that funny hat.
August 1st, 2011 at 3:04 pm
@ Tim
I did see what you did there. And I can also see that most Germans must need their heads examining if they are happy paying taxes to the church unless they actively opt out. Surely it should be the other way around and you only pay said taxes if you opt in? Weird.
August 1st, 2011 at 3:07 pm
There is a character called Ratty in the “Wind in the Willows” – a book I have enjoyed since childhood. The Ratty in the book is very pleasant, courageous and wise. So – for me at any rate – it’s not at all a suitable title for the current pope.
Apart from that, it’s good news!
August 1st, 2011 at 3:08 pm
So his hollowness is going to visit his home country. Does anyone remember those heady days of last year when his hollowness came to this country? I think the BBC might have mentioned it once or twice. Does anyone remember the stench of self-servitude and corruption that disappeared once his plane had taken off? I’m sure all we nazis, sorry, secularists, will never forget that wonderful weekend last September.
August 1st, 2011 at 5:23 pm
@The Woggler: Defintely unforgettable. And after telling us how morally defective we were he left in a cloud of debt and Council tax payers shafted to pay for his protection. I wonder if the Vatican has payed that £6 million owed to the UK government. I suppose it would be bad form to ask for it. OK to lock you up if you don’t pay your TV licence as a protest about the money wasted by the BBC on religion.
I heard a really choice offering on “Sunday” from RC bishop (Longley?) who was given more time than the BBC gave to the Cloyne Report – so much for objective reporting. Anyway Longley, it that is indeed his name, was wittering away about a “Happiness Day” he and his flock are encouraging. However, without any attempt at rebuttal he was allowed to say that atheists could not be happy. You see, folks, you need a relationship with god (whatever that is) before you can be happy.
When is some politician going to step in and stop this propaganda for superstition which is allied to insults to atheists? Why should we be demeaned on a BBC funded by our licence fees and allowed no reply. Free speech? Fairness? Objective reporting? No way. The religious cabal at the BBC are shameless in their protection of their religion. Scandal does not begin to describe what they are doing.
August 1st, 2011 at 6:32 pm
$7000? Is that all it takes to straighten out the life of a child who has been sexually abused? Can you imagine it? You’re trying to be a good kid, and the person who your community most respects molests you and tells you to keep quiet because your salvation depends on it.
For starters, $7000 is less than the fine a drunk driver has to pay, where I’m from. And if we can judge by the situation in Ireland, the Vatican only likes to pay about 1/4 of what it owes:
“To date, costs incurred by the State as a result of the abuse of children in the institutions are estimated at €1.36 billion. The Government is seeking a contribution of €680 million (50 per cent) towards this from the congregations. They have offered €374.5 million. Mr Quinn suggested in recent months that they make up the shortfall by signing over property to the State.” (http://www.irishtimes.com/news.....03029.html)
This report came the same week:
“The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange said Friday it has made a $50-million offer to buy the bankrupt Crystal Cathedral.
The cash proposal would allow the Garden Grove church to lease the entire property for 36 months. At the end of the lease, the ministry would have to find a new location.”
(http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....3998.story)
So, the Catholic church can afford to pay the full amount they owe; their willing to throw-away 50 million dollars to rent a cathedral for 3 years – a cathedral they don’t even need.
I have to say that $7000 wouldn’t make up for it, and $28,000 wouldn’t cover the costs of counseling, in this country.
August 1st, 2011 at 6:51 pm
That’s some hat he’s using for the whip round!
August 1st, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Didn’t take me long to find it, Broga!
http://peterjennings.co.uk/201.....happiness/
Day for Life is the Day the Catholic Church in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales dedicates to celebrating the dignity of human life from conception to natural death*.
It is being celebrated in parishes throughout England and Wales on Sunday 31 July 2011.
Archbishop Longley, the Archbishop, Day for Life, England and Wales, explained that one of the ways a Catholic can experience true happiness is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The Archbishop of Birmingham said: “The Sacrament of Reconciliation makes us at one with God; at one with our neighbour and at one with ourselves.â€
Pope Benedict said: “Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.â€
All together now: “Wubba, wubba, wubba, wubba, wubba – bad world go away!”
(* Not after death, obviously, because your naked body is then tortured in a big fire by your loving God – the one who only seeks your happiness.)
August 2nd, 2011 at 2:19 am
Ha Regimus, above. Loved “Oh dear, poor old Ratty.” Poor Ratty indeed. She still wears those lovely gold ‘n red dresses, a trail a princess would love (snail trail?), and the singing and dancing, the incense, the thousands of deluded paying twits out the front. Ratty is a leery old thing, but he’ll shuffle off this mortal coil long before RCC ltd, sadly.
August 2nd, 2011 at 7:15 am
Ja, my husband was one of those leaving the Catholic fold. It was the kiddy fiddling that got him to make the break.
Germans stay in the church and pay their tax so their children can be baptised and married in church. Also a lot of schools and kindergarten are in church hands and you get preferential treatment if you are a card-carrying member.
I attend church more often than most people I know, to play music. Most of the congregation is ancient. The young musicians ask me why I don’t do the spell-casting bit and I explain that I have no gods – my way of spreading the word. This year we played at one church fest (happy cadaver) and there were more musicians than attendees. We have decided not to bother next year. Freude Freude!
August 2nd, 2011 at 9:34 am
barriejohn
Did you notice their definition on death? It has to be ‘natural’ or presumably it doesn’t count. The whole thing reads like it was written by lawyers.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:00 am
Thanks bj. They really are shameless the way, in an ocean of the abuse and the crimes and the misery they cause they come out with this:
“We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.â€
This from a man who lives in a palace and has another in the hills, surrounded and attended by slavish servants, connived to get to the top of his career and, apparently, lacks a relationship which fulfills the basic human need of a loving sexual relationship. Not only that he is determined that others will be similarly deprived.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:07 am
@Broga The BBC not only gives loads of time to xtian front men, I have often tuned in to find death cultists banging out their (usually lying) message of peas.
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:55 am
Only religionists are truly happy. Atheists just THINK that they are!
August 2nd, 2011 at 12:32 pm
barriejohn. Talking of happy religiots, I’ve just had a look at some of the ‘recent’ comments on Bob Hutton’s pityful excuse for a blog. It seems he is now deleting posts from Christians who agree with him!
How long before he is found wandering around Canterbury with his underpants on his head?
August 2nd, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Because the approach of covering up and lying hasn’t worked, the Catholic Church has now decided to try a new approach of showing “remorse” and asking for “forgiveness” but that won’t work either because what needs to happen to reverse this decline (and this would appear to be needed by a great number of lapsed Catholics as well as Atheists) are CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS.
The day Ratzinger is standing trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity, will not only be a day of justice for the countless victims of the organisation of which he is head but, ironically, a necessary day for the majority of his followers.
Future generations will look back at all this and wonder why it took us so long.
August 2nd, 2011 at 4:41 pm
While it certainly is unseemly that the government would take a tax from people and give it to churches, requiring that you opt-out in order to avoid this ridiculous misuse of your own funds, at least the Germans have a mechanism for officially relinquishing membership in the Catholic Church. I wrote to my bishop over a year ago to say I was formally requesting removal from the church’s rolls and even filled in the nice little Declaration of Defection form, adding a cover letter to explain specifically why I wished to no longer be counted among the Catholics. Largely it was about sex abuse and the church’s tepid and at times cruel response to it, as well as its horrific history of genocides and forcible conversions of various peoples across the world, its historic and current treatment of women as lesser beings and some personal dealings I had with Catholic teachers who used the church’s teachings as an excuse to turn a blind eye to or even take part in the bullying of students who did not fit the mold and toe the line.
I received no reply, and a couple of months later the Pope decided that the Declaration of Defection no longer counts. Perhaps I should have included a free stamp, since the church is so poor these days…
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:53 pm
As Catholism falls…Islam rises…oh dear