How to resign from the Catholic Church - Germany

When I came in Germany I filled in a form and because it didn't had a box for Orthodox I checked the Catholic box (no big difference to me).
I now I will have to pay tax to that damn church but I didn't 'used' a church since I was 16.

I am a scientist not a believer and I want out. How do I do that?

Thanks.

Kill a nun. That usually does the trick.

Kill a nun using a strap-on penis...

It depends where in Germany you live. Here in Bavaria you go to the Standesamt with your passport, pay 31€ and it's done.
How to leave the church in each state

The Chatolic church has always been hard on scientists.

Edit: Blessed are the correctors of spellings for they have removed a thorn from the toe of their brethern and washed a grain of sand from the eyeball of the universe, or something.

Funnily enough, my wife did this yesterday, ok it was the evangelische church, but the principle is the same, she went to the standesamt, told them she wanted to deregister from church tax as she didnt want to pay them any more money and besides we are wiccans, paid 31€ and that was that. The guy warned her that she will probably get a phonecall or visit from her local minister to ask why.

Why would she be wearing one of those?
EDIT: Did anyone click on kathie's link and see that there is an advertising banner for a miracle medallion across the top? Just one more reason for resigning.

You have to pay to stop paying an unwanted tax? strange. It is free in Berlin to deregister.

So what are you saying pix - you are a Catholic until you have to pay for it. How are you gonna explain that one when you get to the Pearly Gates.

can't you claim Kirchensteuer back at the end of the year. think that's what I used to do 'way back when'.

I have three of those medals lying on my desk right now if anybody wants them.

I was out in Altötting recently on my bike and on the way back I bought petrol in the town as the the B12 back to Munich is an ideal stretch to demonstrate the superiority of the motocycle as a overtaking instrument.

Being lazy and also having headphones in and being in the middle of a Killers song I went in to pay without taking off my helmet. As I walked back out to the bike I was stopped by a rotund old priest, wearing the old style cassock and a biretta. He said hallo and asked me was I a motorcyclist. To set the scene correctly, I am walking towards the only two wheeled vehicle at the petrol station, wearing motorcycle boots, pants, jacket, gloves, helmet and if his deity really can see all, motorcycle underwear. All that was missing was a little warning sticker "may contain motorcycling elements". I just wish that his boss had this grasp of the obvious. Misinterpreting my bemused look of incredulity for the cry of a lost soul in the wilderness he presented me with three holy medals from a bulging purse that must have contained hundreds of the things.

I made it home safely. Make of it what you will. Not sure if all the power of the medals is used up but that is what belief is for.

Call it, friendo.

I take my religion like I take my liquer...in moderation.

My wife (Ev) did that a couple of years back - I was warned not to join the club when I arrived here many years ago...

I cannot recall her having to pay 31€ (but we are in the poor North).
You (or in our case I) had to continue paying for a number of months (cant remember how many) then that was it. No phone calls no visits...


You must be from a different planet

You apparently pay 10€ in Schlieswig-Holstein

Like I said - the poor North.

My boyfriend resigned few months ago, the procedure was very easy - exactly the same as the one mentioned above. But take my advice and think twice before you do this. In our case, few months later, he had to pay the amount once again and visit our local church, etc. as we actually decided to get merried and had to be a member of a church!

You do not have to be a member of a church to get married. You go to your standesamt.

However should you want a church wedding then you have to be a member but then if you want to be a member you should be prepared to pay the membership fees...

Why would you want to get married in a church if you don't believe in what you are doing...

You don´t become a member of the Roman Catholic church by erroneously checking a box in a form provided by a German state authority.

It takes more than that to convert from Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism ... unless you´re already a member of an Eastern Catholic or Uniate Church

I ask myself that question about a number of people...

All it took for me to want out of the Catholic church taxes was one trip to Rome (and more specifically, the Vatican). Pissed me right off, it did.

What finally turned my wife off was that we were invited to attend "Konfirmation" of the daughter of good friends of our in Hamburg and during the service
my wife realised that the whole rigmarole meant nothing to her - in particular that the family were not church-goers & havn't been back since.

It's OK to go out with a nun, as long as you don't get into the habit...

Get a nun pregnant.

I'd like to be an atheist , I just couldn't stand the dour arrogance that seems to come with it.

certainly don't fiddle kiddies as this is likely to get you promoted in the catholic church.

Now truly I am a free man

Thanks (for all) answers. I solved it at Rathaus.
I told them I made a mistake when I filled the form (which is true) as I am (was) orthodox.

I have to pay no tax... just a 'Bitte' and a 'Danke schone'.

And the lady who repaired the mistake was barely speaking English. So, no all Germans are 'grrrrrrr...' when they meet a non-German speakers.

I've posted before on this subject but here goes . .

I had an Irish gf who was not earning well but paying Church tax and i talked to her and asked why?

She subsequently cancelled it.

About a week later we were treated to a local priest knocking on the door and, upon entry proceeded to give her the hellfire and damnation speech, up to the point that i physically bade hime farewell.

Bunch of knuts to be honest.

When I was back home, all I had to do was write a letter to the local priest and I got a letter back confirming that I was no longer registered with them.

Totally unlike the priests in the UK, how as we all know from The Titfield Thunderbolt, spend their time rescuing steam railways...

Why would you want to get married in a church if you don't believe in what you are doing...

Well, personally I don't mind paying a tax church because I DO believe in God, but I was wrongly informed by a friend that the church tax in Munich is extremely high (he shown me his bill of 600 euros!) and this made me so terrified we decided to withdraw. Only later did we learn that this sum was colected for many many years as he had always avoided to pay this tax..

You do not have to be a member of a church to get married. You go to your standesamt.

If you want to get married in a church, you have to. At least where I am getting married.

You cannot have your cake and eat it...

Yeah, just like if you want to have your reception in a banquette hall, you have to pay your banquette hall tax. And if you want to rent a car for your wedding, you have to pay your car rental tax.

Oh wait, none of these other service providers get special treatment.

But you don't pay 9% of your income on that stupid car service, month by month. Right?

I am not a believer, but for those who are God SHOULD love you the same, not based on the quantity on money you pay Him.
Or... you think that paying that STUPID tax will buy you a place in heaven?
I never heard a story about Jesus sitting at the door of the Church and forcing those who didn't paid enough to go back home.
I wouldn't like to be part of such a religion.

Be wise and open minded. Church is nothing than a world wide for-profit company.

I agree 100%. The mystery of the universe and solar system and how earth created is still unknown. We are not alone.

When I first moved to Germay I opted out of paying any Church Tax. I moved into a small wine village. and at a local getogether I was introduced to various people one of which said to me in perfect English ' ah you are the one that does not pay church tax'. I was the only person in the village ( and probably still am ) not to pay the tax. I could see that life could be made difficult for you and that in Germany your personnal information is not private.

Being a scientist and a believer are not mutually exclusive.

I think you may have missed Tfls point.
However, just for accuracy's sake you do not pay 9% of your income in church tax. It is 9% of your income tax, actually in Bayern and Baden-Württemberg it's 8%. It's still a rip off and should be avoided at all costs.

Where are you getting that figure? I pay church tax. It's 1.1% of my gross income monthly. Or 1.9% of my net. Perhaps I shouldn't be posting this on a public forum... they might send me a bill.


I don't understand why the churches here "require" their members to pay tax. Though, one should note that there are members who are exempt from paying any church tax. And you're free to go to church without actually signing up as a member. It seems to me a system where people give what they want to give or are able to give seems more appropriate. Church tax sends the message, especially to those who might be signed up with the church but have no connection to the church community, that the church is solely interested in how much money they can squeeze out of each member. And I refuse to believe that every single leader of every single church in this country has those sinister intentions.


Bit dramatic, isn't it? I have more experience with churches back home, but they didn't focus purely on the cash. They operated on a donation basis, and were able to reduce costs and spending by the amount of people who donated their time. You could do with a dose of open-mindedness yourself. Though I admire your ability to shove all churches into one convenient "evil, greedy bastards" category.

Edit: Ah-- Allershausen has cleared up my church tax confusion. I forgot it was based on your income tax. Still, it's peanuts really.

Glad to see that, although sarcasm may be missing from, TT irony isn't.

As is rubbish punctuation.

You have me on that.

I thought as if,
trying he was,
some kind of Haiku, to do.

What a bastard. I would liked to have said in reply: "And people like you are the reason I dont pay".

What about the much heralded German "Datenschutz" that they are always quacking on about?

"Datenschutz" only applies when it suits people. It applies when they want to hide behind it & gets swept away when they don't...

Ric de

I did not let him get away with it, and went on to tell him how free we were in England. This was before Brown was PM.

I tried to explan that it would be seen as a personel choice and the state would have nothing to do with. However after 10 years of the Labour dictatorship I would not be sure about anything in England anymore as Labour is taking Britain back to a high tax enterpriseless country as it was before Thatcher.

Then you should tell me if the man was made from Adam or if it evolved from monkey.
By the way... nobody have found any trace of Adam's body but they have found lot of dinosaur bones.

Maybe Adam was a monkey.

I told them I was an Independent Methodist . They said "a what?".
I said "it's a Methodist who's independent from all the other Methodists" and they said OK you don't have to pay, Sorted huh!

I am not advocating any religious explanations for the existence of life. Science is simply not the opposite of religion, it should not serve as a substitute for religion. Science is a method. On God and religion, science itself and those speaking for science must remain neutral because science cannot answer the question. God cannot be proven or disproven. Religion and God is not a question for science but for philosophy.