The US is more religious than most other Western countries and our rural areas are more religious still.
Reposted from
Michael Fuss
When I looked up the homepage of your hometown, I saw that this village has a surprisingly high number of churches (10) compared to a village that size (ca. 1800 inhabitants) in Switzerland or Germany.
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A church tax is not the same as a state religion. And in most countries you can opt out of it. But it is still the government collecting money for the church.
ps. they pay property taxes.
Not so much.
In practice? *looks around at all of this* ummmm
Although I was briefly homeschooled and secular wasn't an option for homeschool groups/bands/theatre. Only super culty extremely Christian options.
Is it the tax exempt business aspect?
How many innocent’s have died in the name of religion?
Remember that family in the movie “The VVitch?” That’s a good example.
That kind of over the top magical thinking is why we’re so screwed.
Growing up, we had like 10 churches in a 5 mile radius. Half of them were variants of Southern Baptist.
Our elementary school was still K-8 at the time, with a total population of 500 kids or so. This was in the 90s.
In a rural environment, where you were working so hard all the time, that is often the only chance you get to get out
Please, let’s not confuse attendance with piety
The openly religious wars ended in Germany in 1648 with the Thirty Years War.
Apparently, no one wanted to fight war over religion after that anymore.
Nowadays, it has about 46% unaffiliated, 25% Catholics and 22% Protestants.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Germany
I'm in the US right now (in North Carolina) and in stores if someone said "god bless you" to me it makes me feel kind of uncomfortable if I'm honest (as I'm an atheist).
I have no issues with religion as long as it doesn't affect me.
Only in America does a small town need eight different protestant sects.
How often do you baptize people? SCHISM!
How should the church be organized, from some out-of state authority or hired by the congregation? SCHISM!
Should we have musical instruments? SCHISM!
Should we play hymns, or Christian rock to engage the young folks? SCHISM!!!
How do we feel about gay people? SCHISM, SCHISM, SANCTION AND SCHISM!!!!
Should married couples have sex with each other? SCHISM!
Joke. Man rescued from 10 years on a deserted island, shows reporters around structures he's built:house, bar, gym, workshop etc. Comes to two identical shacks and says, this is my church and this is the church I don't go to anymore.
It’s all about the schisms. Always has been.
You'd probably get a Catholic church and a couple of Protestant churches round here. No need for so many smaller variations.
Very different from the churches in town with the bigger and older one going back to the year 1200.
You know, one big church vs 9 or 10 little ones.
Also, I bet I'm still on the rolls of my parents' old church, despite having been there only once in recent decades.
Berlin was much less Catholic.
https://youtu.be/D88DQIJmxRI?si=UoF5wKD8VIDROvty&t=120
They don't get quite this dense on the East side, but there are plenty, including something called "Skatechurch" that just popped up in an empty sporting goods store near me.
I'm in rural northern Canada. Shit's whack here too.
Asking for the rest of the world...we're baffled!
NINE CHURCHES.
I've always said churches, no matter the size, should be taxed. If small business get taxed, so do churches