The Catholic Church said it does not agree with an opinion article published on RTL on Friday afternoon by the president of AHA - the Association of Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics. The claim made by Bob Reuter that religious communities can offer their services for free because they are paid by everyone is "fundamentally wrong and untrue", said a statement from the Archbishop's office.
The Church wrote:
"In his Carte Blanche on Radio RTL on July 17, 2026, AHA Chairman Bob Reuter addressed the separation of church and state that took place more than 10 years ago. In his commentary, he made the following claim: “…this (= non-religious people) primal human need for ceremonies around the great transitions in life, for companionship in dark hours, is not publicly supported by anyone – while religious communities can offer their services for free, paid for by all of us.”
Addressing the matter, the Catholic Church specified that all church ceremonies take place in churches and chapels that either belong to the church fund and are financed by the church itself, or belong to the municipalities, and where it is also the church fund that must pay for the maintenance. Baptisms, marriages and funeral services are also not free, but must be paid for.
Since the separation of church and state, 56 people have been employed by the archdiocese, who are paid from the diocese's budget and not funded by the general public – the diocese continued in its response to the AHA president's statements.
In Reuter's commentary, he highlighted that the State still funds multiple religions, and that a question on the matter was removed from a 2015 referendum. He also argued that non-religious people lack the recognition offered to those ascribing to a religion, despite "paying for" the services offered by religious communities through taxes.
