Tax Exemption Upheld

◆ The United States Supreme Court, on May 4, ruled 7 to 1 that laws that exempt from taxation church property used solely for religious purposes do not violate the Constitution’s prohibition against state support of religion. The argument was that tax exemptions granted to church property raised private-property tax bills and forced property owners to contribute to religious groups against their will. It was argued that the result was an indirect state subsidy to churches, in violation of the First Amendment’s prohibition against any “establishment of religion” by the government. The Supreme Court rejected that argument.

Church Attendance Down

◆ Less than 1 percent of Protestant members regularly go to church in West Germany. About 30 percent of the Roman Catholics do so. The trend is pointed downward. Catholic bishops have condemned the church leavers for “infringing against the solidarity of the Church.” “We can’t accept this . . . when a Catholic makes such a declaration he is seriously offending against our community,” say the bishops. Evidently they see waning the tax dollar that church members in Germany are compelled to pay, and they are doing all in their power to retain the church tax, trying to forbid members to leave the church. But they are leaving anyway.