> I was asked to disclose a religion, ostensibly to determine taxes. The Church's "member fee" is being collected as a tax by the state because of some Weimar

> I was asked to disclose a religion, ostensibly to determine taxes. The Church's "member fee" is being collected as a tax by the state because of some Weimar Republic law that has been kept around. Bishops are also payed by the state. This was to stop the then powerful churches from revolting against the government because the government wanted to clean up older laws and conflicts. [1] Don't ask me why it's still this way, I know a lot of people that want to get rid of that, including myself. You can get out of paying church tax very easily at the city hall, btw. You can then also state that your religion is following the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Imho, you are blowing this out of proportion. > It’s illogical, Facebook isn’t going to lead to Nazism or the Stasi again Right, but governments that request access to this data can. It's better to not collect data in the first place. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax#Germany