Some German States Resist Jehovah's Witnesses Push For Recognition

Spiegel Online today reports on efforts by the Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany to obtain legal recognition in various German states as a "public law corporation." According to Country Reports. org, this status entitles a religious group "to name prison, hospital and military chaplains, and to levy a tithe (averaging 9 percent of income tax) on its members that the state collects. An estimated 180 religious groups have been granted public law corporation status." Spiegel details efforts in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg to resist granting this status, which several other states have already granted the group.