I thought it was for this reason, though the sibling comment's link seems to indicate that we don't really know (and I trust him more than my memory).
It used to be common to tax different religions in a different way in some countries of Europe. Even today in Germany you are legally required to pay taxes to your church, and I have read multiple accounts of French expatriates who have discovered this only after a year of working in Germany, and getting significant amounts of back taxes to pay, as well as being required to be debaptised, etc, if they wanted to stop paying for that.
In France that would be unthinkable, but every country has its customs.
The way in which the German government has been co-opted by the church to act as their debt collectors is fairly disgusting and no longer of this day and age.
I don't agree that such a tax is a good idea, but consider the following:
1. If it bothers the Germans, why don't they change it? Is there some concordat that makes it difficult?
2. Do I really have a right to comment given that I'm not German? Does it really makes sense for you to apply what are presumably post-revolution, secular French standards to Germany?
3. "co-opted by the church to act as their debt collectors " -- sounds conspiratorial. You think the Church is all-powerful and able to do that? Tithing isn't new.
4. "disgusting and no longer of this day and age" -- appeals to time period are rather silly. We're not talking about fashion, and it's important not to fall prey to the Idol of Progress.
5. Interesting that more religious countries, like Germany's neighbor Poland, have no such tax.
> If it bothers the Germans, why don't they change it? Is there some concordat that makes it difficult?
The church is still very powerful in Germany.
> Do I really have a right to comment given that I'm not German?
You have a right to your opinion about what is happening in a country even if you are not living there.
> Does it really makes sense for you to apply what are presumably post-revolution, secular French standards to Germany?
It is fairly exceptional to see the state harnessed to do a private institution's bidding like this.
> "co-opted by the church to act as their debt collectors " -- sounds conspiratorial. You think the Church is all-powerful and able to do that? Tithing isn't new.
That it isn't new doesn't mean there is a place for it today. The state and the church should be firmly separated. In Germany this is - not yet - the case.
> "disgusting and no longer of this day and age" -- appeals to time period are rather silly. We're not talking about fashion, and it's important not to fall prey to the Idol of Progress.
It's not the 15th century any more.
> Interesting that more religious countries, like Germany's neighbor Poland, have no such tax.
Well if you don’t think it’s a big deal, you may collect it just to have the data (data was as appealing to bureaucrats 200 years ago as it is to big-data engineers today). For example the DMV asks for your height and weight today, but if a fat-hating government came to power and decided to kill all fat people, they would have a target list that was of very questionable value for the DMV to collect in the first place.
