Churches in Liechtenstein, one of the world's smallest
countries, could face financial disaster under government plans to
withdraw state subsidies under new legislation, according to a
Protestant leader.
"This will be a drastic change -- we depend on financial support,
and there'll be no chance of obtaining it if the new law goes ahead,"
said Markus Meidert, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Liechtenstein.
"This is a predominantly Catholic country, and the Catholic Church
is unhappy with the plans as well. But the new law will be especially
hard and treacherous for smaller churches like ours, who have none of
the Catholic church's resources."
A bill before Liechtenstein's 25-member parliament proposes to end
the Roman Catholic church's status as official state church and also
withdraw state subsidies from recognized religious communities.
Meidert told ENInews that state grants account for half the current
budget of the Evangelical Lutheran church, which has no means of
generating income like Christian churches in neighboring Germany and
Austria.
The Roman Catholic Church accounts for 78 percent of the 36,000
inhabitants of Liechtenstein, situated between Austria and Switzerland,
and receives 300,000 Swiss francs yearly from the state budget, as well
as additional funds from the country's 11 municipalities.
Under the government-sponsored reform package, the Roman Catholic
Church would lose its status as "state church" with "full protection
from the state" as laid out in Liechtenstein's 2003 constitution.
The church's guaranteed role in education and religious teaching in
schools would also end, and the state would fund only those programs and
services that benefit the collective good.