Reply #21: There was a state church in Germany when I was there in the 1960s

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Different regions of Germany are either Protestant or Catholic, depending on what religion their rulers followed before the unification of the country in 1870.

I don't remember the details, but I remember talk of a "church tax" and how the only way you could get out of it was to officially declare yourself an atheist.

The Scandinavian countries also have state churches, and I think that the Netherlands do to.

France, however, has had a secular government since the Revolution.