Thank you for the info.
What I am mostly interested in learning about is the good old "Homosexuals should burn in hell because God tells me so" constellation. Would this constitute hate speech in your country? Question to everyone. ;)
Insult is a misdemeanor. Provided someone can come up with enough evidence/witnesses, you can be fined or imprisoned for up to one year for calling someone an idiot.
I confess, I have a dirty secret. Sometimes I watch Catholic TV. At the moment there seems to be some kind of "world family meeting" in Catholistan. I zapped into an interview program with an English-speaking guest who claimed that the law of free speech was so fuzzy that it was impossible to...
A while back, I joked about who would have the guts to indict a former pope for condoning child abuse. Now there is no criminal case, but at least there is a civil case.
Abuse victim seeks damages from retired Pope Benedict XVI - Catholic Review
I think that's the idea behind a church tax. Church-loving Germans often vote for the "Christian Democatic Union", the party CDU. However, church membership is dwindling. About 50% of the German population are currently members of the Catholic or Lutheran Church.
In 2019, the church tax rate was 8% of income tax in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and 9% in the other federal states. The assessment basis for the church tax is the income tax.
Don't know whether I understand you correctly but you possibly believe that taxpayers in general are obliged to pay taxes to religions regardless of whether they are members of said religion or not. You have to pay church tax if you are a member of a religion which is organized as a body of...
I'm just interested in the use of words; I have no ill intent towards sexual minorities so don't impute any on me. ;)
In an article in the German Wikipedia describing the meaning of the word "queer", I read about "non-binary transgenders". To be honest, I find these words a bit contradictory...
Namaste,
the world has a new sampradaya. Vishwananda now has his own sampradaya, the Hari Bhakta Sampradaya, in which he is the sole authority.
Our Tradition - Bhakti Marga
If someone had asked me, I would have branded Vitthala instead,
1. because the name Hari is already taken :D (it is...
With a statement so broad it's hard to give an all-encompassing answer, but one, two generations ago, people in Europe attended church out of social pressure. Within the Catholic Church it is a sin not to go to Mass on Sunday. However, nowadays, church attendance is declining for various reasons.
Germany is trying to atone for the acts committed by the Nazis, and homosexuals were one of the groups particularly affected, along with other marginalized groups such as "gypsies", Jehovah's Witnesses, or Communists.
The fundamental right of freedom of religion is not unlimited in Germany, but...
Well, one thing about the monotheistic majority and groups from polytheistic religions that try to emulate them is that they often focus on just one god or just one charismatic leadership figure. It's a bit hard to convince someone to worship Ares when they prefer to worship Aphrodite.
Another...
Nowadays one can get all sorts of things up one's nose in terms of political correctness; still I have to admit that I find the song intro terribly, terribly racist. :shrug:
Haribol,
today I am going to my temple to celebrate the appearance of Lord Narasimha.
The first time I attended a Hare Krishna home program, I browsed the house owners' bookshelf out of curiousity. I randomly picked a book and it was the 7th Canto of the Bhagavatam with that notorious graphic...
I'm German. I pay 15% of my meager pension for health care, which currently is the general standard for employees and retirees. The money is automatically deducted by the pension fund. In addition, you have to pay an extra 2% of your gross income per year (mostly for medication), 1% if you are...
Of course there is no obligation, but it could be an interesting exercise, to learn about oneself, to gain true insight, to learn about the individual reasons why a person chose a certain faith.
Well, just accept the fact that some people do not have the same belief as oneself. Some people...
AFAIK, from the HIndu perspective, the ability to worship God(s) is the distinct human trait that distinguishes humans from animals. But this says absolutely nothing about why a certain believer would choose a specific belief.