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Freethinkers disturb the flat-rate millions in state churches. Young liberals are putting pressure on them and there are more and more of those without a religion.
In the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Neuchâtel, the non-religious have long been in the majority, while in other cantons the group is growing steadily. Reason enough to take this development into account, according to the President of the Swiss Association of Freethinkers, Andreas Kyriacou.
An environmental organization or the TCS do not simply receive money for their mere existence, but it is linked to a performance mandate.
What bothers him most is that many cantons continue to pay out lump-sum contributions in the millions to the regional churches – and without conditions: An environmental organization or the TCS did not simply receive money, but only on the basis of a clear performance mandate. That is not the case with the churches.
Young liberals want to free legal entities
In the canton of Zurich, 50 million Swiss francs would be distributed annually to the national churches, in the canton of Bern even more than 70 million. According to the freethinker Kyriacou, it would be better if the cantons advertised pastoral care, for example, and churches and institutions could then apply.
This privileging of the regional churches also makes no sense for the Young Liberals, as board member Tobias Frehner says: “We cannot understand why a liberal state should be responsible for financing the churches. The obligatory church tax for legal entities must be abolished.” Because they could not, like individuals, simply leave to avoid the tax.
A compromise proposal
So far, the advances of the young liberals have always failed. EPP National Councilor Marc Jost proposes as a compromise that companies continue to have to pay church tax, but should be allowed to have a say. By being able to choose the denomination to be considered. This also strengthens the freedom of belief for entrepreneurs.
With their offerings and services, the churches make a decisive contribution to keeping society stable. Companies also benefit from this.
The fact that companies have to pay church taxes has been approved by politicians and the people, counters Dominic Wägli, head of communications at the Evangelical Reformed Church. He emphasizes the crucial contribution of the churches to a stable society, from which companies also benefited.
Legend:
Do the regional churches need a clear performance mandate or should the cantons continue to receive a lump sum? The largest church clock at St. Peter in Zurich.
Keystone/Ennio Leanza
For Frehner it is clear that the pressure on the regional churches will continue to increase. Because the younger generation is more critical. The Freethinkers Association assumes that by 2032 there will already be more non-religious people than Reformed and Catholics combined.
Society is much more advanced than the churches on all issues and judges from a secular-ethical perspective.
In Switzerland it is called round each and every third person as non-religious. Another third belong to a religion on paper, but consider themselves neither religious nor spiritual.
Society is already much more advanced than the churches on all issues, says Kyriacou: in euthanasia, in marriage for all, in pre-implantation diagnostics – the population has long been secular. You judge from a secular-ethical perspective and scientifically, but no longer religiously.
Religious holidays also in sight
In Switzerland, therefore, the separation of church and state must be enforced at all levels. The Freethinkers’ Association also demands the abolition of all religious holidays. It remains to be seen whether there would also be a majority among the secularized people. Because at Christmas, Easter and even Pentecost, the Christian faith is no longer the focus for most people, but tradition and culture are.