ABSTRACT
In the three-quarters of a century since the end of the Second World War, the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Roman Catholic Church of Germany have operated first under Allied/Soviet occupation, and subsequently under two rival political systems: the German Democratic Republic; and, in two incarnations, the Federal Republic of Germany. For the churches, the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) – or West Germany, as it was also known until 1990 – represented a fresh start, with the prospect of new directions in ecclesiastical structure, policies and politics. In Imperial Germany, the state provided subsidies to the churches. One of the curiosities of the Church–state arrangement, as set up in the FRG, was the Church tax, collected by the state on behalf of the religious organisations, even though Church and state were declared to be separated.
