Many Christians still pay church tax  in countries across Europe

In several Western European countries a majority of adults not only agree to pay a church tax imposed on all baptized Christians but also have no intention of opting out of it even though they can, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center published April 30.

Western Europe is often seen as a highly secularized region where established religion is dying out. Church taxes are blamed for part of that erosion because the only way to avoid the tax where it is mandatory is to officially leave the church in which one was baptized.

The Pew report found far more people still finance their church than attend it. (RNS)