# No sending Catholic things into Germany? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2024, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183 "2024-12-05T07:55:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/41 "2024-12-06T18:52:56Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Plus it didn’t become majority Catholic until recently, because of birth rates, immigration, and especially Protestants got secularized easier. Then of course real demographics are hard to come by because many will check a box but never go to church unless there’s a wedding. Catholics are not a majority, only the major _Christian_ denomination by a small margin with 24% vs 22% Protestants. By far the biggest group with 46,2% are the non-religious. And the denominational affiliation hasn’t to be determined by people checking boxes, your denomination is part of every German’s personal file, because if you do belong to a denomination you have to pay church tax, and the Finanzamt (our IRS) wants to know. Leaving a religion and getting exempt from church tax is an administrative act you have to personal visit your town hall for, and it even costs a fee. So statistics about religious affiliation in Germany are very precise. What’s even more important: Only 5% of the population regularly visit religious services, so many who are officially and administratively religious are only so on paper. Catholics are only a majority among Christians in Germany, and in the last years their membership declined fast, even faster than that of the Protestants. Numbers from here: > **[Religionen in Deutschland](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religionen_in_Deutschland#:~:text=Insgesamt%20geh%C3%B6rten%20Ende%202023%2045,22%20Prozent)** > > Die römisch-katholische Kirche hatte Ende 2023 rund 20,3 Millionen Mitglieder (24,0 % der Gesamtbevölkerung), die evangelischen Kirchen der EKD hatten Ende 2023 rund 18,6 Millionen Mitglieder (21,9 %). > Der Anteil der größten Einzelgruppe, der Konfessionslosen, lag zum Jahresende 2023 bei 46,2 %. > Insgesamt gehörten Ende 2023 45,9 % der Deutschen einer der beiden großen Kirchen in Deutschland an. Ende 2023 gibt es erstmals genauso viele konfessionsfreie Menschen (ca. 46 Prozent) wie römisch-kath... ---
**Author:** ![DerSchneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@DerSchneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerSchneck)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/42 "2024-12-06T20:01:13Z")
UPDATE 2: This morning I went to privately owned small scale Mail and parcel place. Explained all my woes. They did not understand why i was denied twice. Very pleasantly suprised with the service, great people. It’s being sent via DHL ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/43 "2024-12-06T20:04:02Z")
I thought Nazi items were a no-no? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/44 "2024-12-06T20:41:26Z")
> [@DerSchneck](#): > > It’s being sent via DHL DHL is a German company, so this confirms that the country of Germany doesn’t have a mail policy of prohibiting the shipping of religious items. Seems like the OP’s case was a misunderstanding by a USPS employee of a restriction only applied by the USPS anyway. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/45 "2024-12-06T20:42:16Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I thought Nazi items were a no-no? Yes, they are, but that’s not what we’re talking about in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/46 "2024-12-06T23:18:45Z")
I’m still not clear on what actually happened. What was the religious material on the label? I don’t know I’d blame some poor dude at USPS because we’re almost certainly not getting the whole story here. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/47 "2024-12-06T23:31:34Z")
Yeah - I don’t see how I can conclude that someone misunderstood something with no indication of what might have been misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/48 "2024-12-07T02:09:05Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Catholics are not a majority, only the major _Christian_ denomination This is an important distinction, that’s what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/49 "2024-12-07T21:54:38Z")
I still think someone was reading the 1980’s rules for East Germany… ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183/50 "2024-12-23T09:13:42Z")
I guess [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785YFFM3/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWw) are right out, then? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-sending-catholic-things-into-germany/1011183.md?page=2)