Article 140 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
Article 140 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the most important state church law provision of the German Basic Law and refers to provisions of the Weimar Constitution of 1919.
text
The provisions of Articles 136, 137, 138, 139 and 141 of the German constitution of August 11, 1919 are part of this Basic Law.
reference
The provisions of the Weimar Constitution referred to are:
Article 136 (Weimar Constitution)
(1) Civil and civic rights and duties are neither conditioned nor restricted by the exercise of religious freedom.
(2) The enjoyment of civil and civic rights as well as admission to public office are independent of religious beliefs.
(3) Nobody is obliged to reveal their religious beliefs. The authorities only have the right to inquire about membership in a religious society to the extent that rights and obligations depend on them or a statutorily mandated statistical survey requires this.
(4) Nobody may be compelled to perform an ecclesiastical act or ceremony or to participate in religious exercises or to use a religious form of oath.
Article 137 (Weimar Constitution)
(1) There is no state church.
(2) The freedom of association to form religious societies is guaranteed. The association of religious societies within the Reich territory is not subject to any restrictions.
(3) Each religious society organizes and manages its affairs independently within the limits of the law applicable to all. It confers its offices without the involvement of the state or the civil community.
(4) Religious societies acquire legal capacity in accordance with the general provisions of civil law.
(5) The religious societies remain corporations under public law , insofar as they have been such until now. Other religious societies are to be granted the same rights upon their request if their constitution and the number of their members guarantee their duration. If several such religious societies under public law come together to form an association, then this association is also a corporation under public law.
(6) The religious societies, which are corporations under public law, are entitled to levy taxes on the basis of the civil tax lists in accordance with the provisions of state law .
(7) Associations that take on the common maintenance of a worldview are treated equally with religious societies .
(8) If the implementation of these provisions requires a further regulation, this is the responsibility of the state legislation.
Article 138 (Weimar Constitution)
(1) State payments to religious societies based on law, contract or special legal titles are replaced by state legislation. The kingdom sets the principles for this.
(2) The property and other rights of the religious societies and religious associations in their institutions, foundations and other assets intended for religious, educational and charitable purposes are guaranteed.
Article 139 (Weimar Constitution)
Sunday and the nationally recognized public holidays remain legally protected as days of rest from work and spiritual exaltation.
Article 141 (Weimar Constitution)
Insofar as there is a need for worship and pastoral care in the army, in hospitals, penal institutions or other public institutions, religious societies are to be allowed to perform religious acts , whereby any coercion is to be avoided.
Explanations
Through this reference standard of the so-called. Church of Article Five Weimar Constitution in the applicable federal constitutional law incorporated . The church articles are thus fully constitutional law. Insofar as rights are granted in them , these are constitutional rights, but neither fundamental rights nor rights equivalent to fundamental rights , on the violation of which a constitutional complaint can be based. However, religious freedom is often affected at the same time ; the Federal Constitutional Court then examines the violation of Article 140 of the Basic Law in this context.
Art. 140 GG establishes a system of religious and constitutional law that is moderate in international comparison, which on the one hand enforces the institutional separation of state and church and declares the state to be ideologically neutral, but on the other hand does not follow the secular model of France, but religious freedom and ecclesiastical freedom The right to self-determination also guaranteed in the public sector (cf. in detail state church law ).
The Parliamentary Council was also able to agree on the “Weimar Church Compromise”, which already had a majority in the German National Assembly as the middle line . In favor of the new Art. 4 GG, which regulates freedom of religion and conscience more comprehensively, the reference to Art. 135 WRV was dispensed with in Art. 140 GG; Art. 140 WRV (“Members of the Wehrmacht are to be given the necessary free time to fulfill their religious duties”) seemed dispensable at the time due to the lack of an army.
In various state constitutions , the church articles are also referred to and thus also to state constitutional law.
