Notes
1. See also Hector Avalos, “The Ideology of the SBL and the Demise of an Academic Profession,” his contribution to the SBL Forum (2008), at www.sbl-site.org.
2. See the German Wikipedia under “Kirchensteuer (Deutschland)” which omits to tell the most remarkable thing: even if you are a non-believer you have to pay, unless you can prove that you are a non-believer, which is very difficult to do and time-consuming. This explains the “mystery” or why the number of members of the Kirchensteuer is not falling, which point is used to prove how Christian the German people still is, although there are just as many non-believers and empty churches in Germany as elsewhere in Europe.