Evening star., 1942-04-11

the puppet QulSIng regime. IL Is
an extremely courageous act. When
the Norwegian Church broke with
the state, it also broke with its
source of financial revenue. For In
Norway, as in Germany, the state
pays the salaries of clergymen. 1t
also pays the cost of church admin
istration, church repairs and church
building. Now the state will pay
only the salaries of clergymen loyal
to Quisling and will support only
those churches which give allegiance
to the government.
The l,l00 ministers who have re-
signed are out on a limb so far as
financial support is concerned. The
only thing they can do now is to
exist on voluntary contributions OF
the Norwegian people, of whom
about 81 per cent are members of
the Lutheran State Church. There
is no question. in the opinion Of
Informed observers, that Norwegians
will attempt to back their spiritual
leaders financially, as they have al
ready supported them morally. If
Quislng hopes to starve the clergy
into submission, it is believed that
he will fail.
Nazis Control Finances.
The Norwegian clergy are thus
faced with the same situation which
earlier confronted opposition minis
ters in Germanl. In the Third
Reich the state, for the past 100
years, has had complete control Of
church finances. The government
annually provides the church with
large sums of money. One form of
subsidy are grants-in- aid, which are
compensation for church properties
which were secularized early in the
18th century. From 1925 to 1885 the
total government grants-in-aid to
the church are said to have
amounted to about s38 100000. Dur
ing 1899 the Frankfurter Zeitung
reported that the grants still
amounted to $42,OO0,000 annually.
This sum was used by the church to
pay salaries and pensions to clergy
men. which means that German
pastors, like Norwegian ones, have
been quasi-state officials.
In addition to these grants, the
German state collects church taxes
assessed against the millions Of
church members in Germany. The
churches do not have the admins
trative machinery either to assess
or collect these taxes. The state
does the work, charging the
churches to 5 per cent of the
amount collected for its services.
These collections have amounted to
about s30,0O0,000 annually.
Very early in the game the Nazis
tried to keep the churches in line
by subtly threatening to withdraw
the state subsidy if the churches
didn't behave. A declaration made
by the late Hans Kerrl, national
minister for church affairs, on June
%. 1885. warned the churches that
the state grants contributions to
the churches and enables them to
collect church taxes only on con-
dition that the churches respect the
states interest in accordance With
statutory provisions"
Opposition Clergy Free.
AS the conflict between church
and state in Germany gathered mo-
mentum there was some talk that
the Lutheran State Church might
hove to become a free church to
escape ENHANCEMENT with the state.
Early in 1898, DR.. Ralph H. Long
of New York. executive director of
the National Lutheran Council.
predicted complete separation of
church and state in Germany as
possible outcome of the conflict be-
tween Nazis and religious bodies.
The question of such a separation,
he said, has been discussed.
A formal separation between
church and state has not. however,
been achieved But in practice
separation exists between opposi-
ton clergymen and the state. At
the beginning of 1899 the Nazi gov
ernment began depriving members
of the Confessional (opposition)
Church of their salaries. Today only
ministers and churches loyal to the
Nazis are supported by the state.
This virtually cuts of opposition
clergymen from any means of live
lihood, since in Germany voluntary
donations to the church are prohib-
tied and collections are illegal. OPP
position clergymen still serving