After discussion under atheism on percentages of crazy people per country I was reminded of the fact that our official percentage of catholic people is very high(over 50 percent), as a result we give way to much money to the church, because this is based on the amount of believers.

Officially they keep claiming we are with a lot of Catholics, but I think this is based on baptizes and therefore complete bullshit.

Some links here on supposed numbers ( that are bullshit) and the estimated costs. However, next to this the Belgian church has an enormous patrimonium. Nationalize it and sell it – our government would almost get rid of depts.

[https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2018/11/20/de-katholieke-kerk-voor-het-eerst-in-cijfers-gevat-priesters-b/]

I don’t know anyone that really believes in a Christian god and is not 75+ (and even then).

So why don’t we close the money flood here? At worst we would make pedophiles poor.

[https://www.hln.be/binnenland/bijna-een-half-miljard-euro-subsidies-gaat-naar-religie~a4edc9dc/](https://www.hln.be/binnenland/bijna-een-half-miljard-euro-subsidies-gaat-naar-religie~a4edc9dc/)

[https://businessam.be/belgie-betaalt-jaarlijks-143-miljoen-aan-lonen-voor-geestelijken/]

So- am I exaggerating? Are people still believers? Does the church still have a value? My opinion is clear, so I propose to liquidate ( all or like 95 percent)

4 comments

  1. Things is, if we cut finance to the catholic churches it also must be done to all other religions. If there’s no government finances, it won’t be long untill government control over any religion is lost.

    And to be honest, i’d rather pay them to keep control than to for example, let turkish funding or UAE imams have uncontrolled say on how religion is run. I’d rather have the government keeping things in check, however weird that may sound. And financing is how that’s done.

  3. The thing is that, while I also think a lot of Belgians aren’t practicing Catholics or even believe anything else than “there is a God”, the amount of people who baptize their children is still very high. Most do it for the sake of tradition or because den bomma would be upset if they didn’t do it, but that does mean that a lot of people still want some connection to the church so it makes sense they get support from the government.

  4. Like it or not, 52% of Belgians define themselves as Catholic and 9.4% as practicing ([source](https://radio1.be/lees/katholieke-kerk-voor-het-eerst-in-cijfers-gevat-52-gelovigen-17-miljoen-kaarsjes-en-het-loon-van-de-priester)). You can doubt those numbers all you want, but you have to provide some actual proof for your doubts. Even though the masses aren’t going to churches, there are still services in all active churches and they still have active (albeit small) communities. And as long as such a large percentage defines themselves as (culturally) Catholic, you will never be able to push something as radical as you are proposing. People may not go to mass, but they still want to baptize their children and once in a while attend a funeral or marriage mass.

    Furthermore, closing down churches is extremely controversial because we are still a very culturally Catholic society. Barely anyone wants to see their small parish church sold and turned into a grocery store. You forget that they are often the only historical/architecturally relevant buildings in a random Belgian village; selling those off would be a complete disaster for our monuments and national heritage. Churches also hold priceless documentation (schepenboeken, birth and marriage registers) and art, which are meticulously maintained by local communities. Who will maintain those?

    >Nationalize it and sell it

    We already (partially) nationalized churches in Belgium as a result of the French invasion by Napoleon. The church and its finances are administered by Kerkfabrieken/Conseils de fabrique, which fall under government legislation and act as public bodies with elections.

    >So why don’t we close the money flood here? At worst we would make pedophiles poor.

    At worst you violate the Belgian constitution’s freedom of religion and open Belgium up to international sanctions because it oppresses its practicing Catholic population.

    Yes, you are exaggerating. There are still enough practicing catholics and churches hold an important cultural and historical role in Belgian society. Most of the churches that were haphazardly sold by French revolutionaries (who had the same idea as you) fell into ruin and were later demolished, not to forget that their sales brought in very little cash. Churches for the most part are important historically and religiously, but they are often just bricks and a plot of land, surrounded by historical graves.

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