Relations between the Church and the State in Germany

Razmerja med cerkvijo in državo imajo večstoletna zgodovinska ozadja, saj se je skozi zgodovino cerkev večkrat zbližala a tudi oddaljila od državnih oblasti. Tako sem na primeru Nemčije, ki velja za svetovno velesilo in eno najvplivnejših evropskih držav, v tem diplomskem delu raziskal njen odnos do vere. Ta je zelo specifičen, saj je po eni strani cerkev jasno ločena od države po drugi strani pa je njuno sodelovanje zelo tesno in se prepleta. V nekaterih pogledih se je država že pred 200 leti zavezala k sodelovanju s cerkvijo, ki jo tudi finančno podpira in jim priznava status javnopravnih korporacij. Država omogoča verski pouk v šolah, pobiranje cerkvenega davka, gospodarsko dejavnost cerkve, karitativno in bolnišnično dejavnost ter versko oskrbo v javnih ustanovah. Nemčija nima izoblikovane posebne zakonodaje glede odnosa do cerkve, saj je urejena že na ravni ustave, ki jo dopolnjujejo tudi državno-cerkvene pogodbe in konkordati s svetim sedežem. Cerkev se v Nemčiji v zadnjih letih sooča z množičnimi izstopi kot posledica finančne nepokorščine njenih članov in tudi afer, ki so jih povzročili duhovniki. Ima dve zelo močni krščanski cerkvi, ob katerima kot posledica priseljevanja raste islamska veroizpoved. Nemško javnost sta v zadnjih letih delila tudi dva odmevnejša primera iz ustavnega sodišča v Karlsruhe, enkrat so bili sporni katoliški križi v javnih šola, drugič pa pokrivalo muslimanske učiteljice.Relations between the Church and the State have been steeped in several centuries of tradition, throughout which the Church alternated between drawing closer to and distancing itself from the state authorities. In my diploma thesis, I chose Germany, a global superpower and one of the most influential European countries, and examined its attitude towards religion. The attitude Germany displays towards the Church is very specificwhile the Church is clearly separated from the State, these two institutions nevertheless work very closely together. As far back as 200 years ago, the State committed itself to cooperate with the Church in some respects, providing it with financial support and recognising it the status of public legal corporations. The State enables religious instructions in schools, collection of church tax, commercial activities of the Church, charitable and hospital activities and the provision of religious care in public institutions. Germany has no special legislation formed with regard to its attitude towards the Church, as this is already regulated at the constitutional level, supplemented by agreements between the Church and the State as well as concordats with the Holy See. Lately, the Church in Germany has been facing mass resignations of believers as a result of financial disobedience of its members and on account of scandals caused by priests. It boasts two very powerful Christian Churches, while extensive immigration is causing the rise of the Islamic faith. In recent years, the German public was divided by two resounding cases brought before the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, one involving a dispute over Catholic crosses in state schools, and the other concerning a Muslim teacher wearing a headscar