8. Wouldn’t our social system collapse completely without the commitment of the churches?

Most of the church’s social welfare facilities in Germany (such as hospitals, old people’s homes, therapy centres) are financed completely by the state, the health insurance and direct payments from the beneficiaries. Only in a small segment (such as nursery schools and advice centres) do the churches have to pay a (minor) part of the costs themselves. This amount is compensated for many times over by the billions of Euros of subsidies that the churches receive every year from the state, i.e. taxpayer (over and above the special church tax levied in Germany).

Only very few German citizens realize that the salaries of many bishops, for example, are not covered by the church tax, but are paid for out of general taxes, including those of non-believers. If the unconstitutional privileges of the churches were finally stopped, the state could save many billions of Euros each year, which could be used for social and educational projects.

9. Didn’t National Socialism and Stalinism do far more damage in the 20th century than all the theistic religions put together? And aren’t the latter necessary to prevent a relapse into barbarism?

National Socialism and Stalinism were political religions, with all the characteristics of a belief system: They had "untouchable prophets", who claimed to have privileged access to the "absolute truth", "holy scriptures", which could never be questioned, hierarchical "priesthoods" that proclaimed the gospel, "heretics" who had the courage to question the dogma, and "Inquisitions" that persecuted the heretics without mercy.
Due to the many structural similarities between political and traditional “higher” religions, it is not surprising that established Christianity was not able to prevent the National Socialist dictatorship in Germany. In fact, apart from a few Christian resistance fighters, the church was a central pillar of the Nazi system. Since some bishops and journalists have recently distinguished themselves by blaming atheism for the atrocities of National Socialism, it needs to be pointed out that "belief in a god" was something of a state doctrine under Hitler. The majority of Nazis professed themselves to be Christians, and a minority described themselves as "believers" in the sense of Himmler’s esoteric cult. Atheists, on the other hand, were viewed as undesirable, both in the Nazi Party and in the SS, since being "godless" was deemed to be an expression of the "putrefying Jewish spirit". This had far-reaching political consequences: associations of free-thinkers were outlawed immediately after the Nazis seized power (allowing the Protestant Church to use the former headquarters of the free-thinkers in Berlin to create a "centre for the fight against godlessness"). This was done with the full approval of the Nazis. Nazi Germany signed a fateful agreement with the Vatican, the "Reichskonkordat", from which the church still profits today! In the run-up to this agreement, it was the Catholic Centre Party no less that provided the necessary votes to carry the “Enabling Law”, thus making possible the tyranny of the Nazis.