KAMPALA, Uganda — Thousands of Catholics in one of the world’s poorest nations are objecting after the Church asked the government to collect a 10 percent tithe from worshippers on its behalf.
A similar “church tax” in Germany has generated record revenue for the Catholic Church there, according to The Handelsblatt, a German newspaper — but the policy is also blamed for driving millions of people to leave the faith.
Several other European nations also collect religious taxes, which are sometimes voluntary, according to the Pew Research Center.
Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga urged the Ugandan government to begin deducting a 10 percent tithe from the monthly salaries of all Catholic believers. Lwanga said many do not voluntarily give the church 10 percent of their incomes.
More than a third of Uganda’s nearly 43 million people live on less than $1.90 per day, the international marker of extreme poverty, according to World Bank. (RNS)
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