It is rare for national newspapers to report on the digitization of administration on their front page. In mid-July it was that time again: “Wüst blocks digital church exit,” reported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on page one. The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia is blocking the necessary change in the law. An excitement, even for the conservative FAZ.

After all, politicians otherwise sing the praises of digitization. “We want to completely digitize administrative processes without media discontinuity,” the CDU and the Greens pledge in their coalition agreement for North Rhine-Westphalia. In the Online Access Act (OZG), the federal and state governments have even committed themselves to putting around 580 administrative services online by the end of 2022 – including leaving the church. In some places, those who want to leave have to wait months for an appointment with the district court.

None of this challenges Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU). One only has to digitize where legally possible, a government spokesman told c’t. State law does not allow any digital form, and nothing will be changed about that.

None for everyone

Wüst’s refusal has nationwide relevance. As part of the implementation of the OZG, NRW has taken on the topic of “Engagement & Hobby”, which includes leaving the church. That means: NRW should develop an online service that other federal states can adopt. In OZG jargon one speaks of the “one-for-all principle”.

However, the other countries would also have to really want the software. In addition, states and municipalities are also allowed to program in parallel – nobody has to wait for refusers like NRW. c’t has therefore questioned all 16 state governments on the subject.

The result: Not only in NRW, but almost everywhere, an online service is currently not possible because state law requires a personal visit or a written declaration “in publicly certified form”. In the latter case, one must sign in the presence of a notary. In addition to the fees for the exit itself (NRW: 30 euros), another 25 euros can easily be added.

Almost all countries do not want to change their corresponding laws either – although legal adjustments are quite common in OZG projects. The rejection goes across all camps: even Thuringia, where the Left, SPD and Greens govern, is laying its hands on its lap.

In July, the CDU-led Hessian Ministry of Education reminded all municipalities in the state that the “completely digital declaration of withdrawal” is and will remain illegal. Any model projects should be “coordinated with me in good time,” the responsible officer warns the mayors in the circular.

Only Berlin plans online service

Only the state of Berlin wants to break away from the phalanx of those loyal to the church: “The coalition is changing the law on leaving the church to enable people to leave the church online,” says the coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the Left. But nothing has happened yet. A Senate spokeswoman told c’t that “prerequisites, options and procedures are being examined”.

Brandenburg is a special case: an online service would be legally possible there. But that doesn’t mean programming in Potsdam is a long way off. “For financial reasons alone” one must first check whether cooperation with other countries is possible, said a government spokesman.

“certainty about the person”

Only a few countries give reasons for their refusal. According to the Bavarian Ministry of Culture, the registrar “must be certain about the person making the declaration and check the effectiveness of the declaration when receiving the oral declaration”. As if the E-Persono didn’t exist for exactly this purpose. This can replace the written form in administrative law and is otherwise accepted by the state for almost all procedures, even when a lot of money is involved, such as BAFöG applications, or official documents such as the driver’s license.

Baden-Württemberg even considers a digital exit from the church to be “constitutionally questionable” and refers to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2008. At that time, however, the judges only argued that an “informal or simplified” resignation declaration would provide less clarity “about the authenticity, the seriousness and also the exact time of the declaration of resignation” as the current procedure. At that time, the judges probably did not have a secure digital exit procedure on their screens – technologies such as e-perso or De-Mail had not even been introduced in 2008.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania argues with the allegedly low demand: There are applications “that affect significantly more people in our state”. But the numbers are considerable, at least nationwide: in 2021, 640,000 people left the Catholic or Protestant Church – a similar number of people receiving BAFöG. You can now apply for the training allowance digitally nationwide.

Criticism by D64 and Load

Criticism of the refusal attitude of the federal states comes, among other things, from the digital political, SPD-related association D64. “Nobody should belong to a religious community against their will for months just because the offices are overloaded and don’t make appointments,” said D64 board member Lena Stork to c’t.

Ann Cathrin Riedel, chairwoman of the Load liberal network policy association, which is close to the FDP, said that the state governments’ statements “quite often showed a lack of understanding and unwillingness to implement the digital transformation of the state and administration”. The question arises to what extent the behavior is aimed at supporting the churches in order to prevent further withdrawals. “The churches themselves should be concerned with making exit as easy as entry – for their own sake.”

(cwo)