State funding of religious ministers: existing models and prospects for their development

The article deals with the complex and somewhat mythologized topic of financial and social security of religious ministers. The author uses legislation and law enforcement practice of 58 countries as the normative basis of the research, which determine the current regimes of direct and indirect state financing (or lack thereof) of the activities of religious ministers. The author uses the comparative legal method and the method of systematization, as well as methods of legal formalism and concrete historical analysis. This review of existing legislative approaches has made it possible to identify five models (variations) of budget allocations to financially support religious ministers. The first model entails constitutional or legislative direct state funding for religious ministers of only one or several denominations. This model is typical for countries that previously had a state religion. The second one obliges the state to reduce budget revenues by giving its citizens the opportunity to dispose of part of the income tax in favor of religious organizations, which becomes the financial support for religious ministers. The third model is related to the existence of a special church tax levied by some religious communities from their members along with income tax. In the fourth model, indirect financing in the form of tax benefits is provided directly to religious ministers (for example, the “synergy housing allowance”, which is a housing allowance for clergy in the United States), or to a religious denomination by giving it a special tax status. The fifth model reinforces the lack of state funding for the activities of religious ministers, which means, as a result, that donations become the main source of income of the clergy. It is noted that despite the differentiation of legal regimes, most countries of the European Union adhere to a participatory approach, including the adoption of measures supporting religious associations and their ministers: direct or indirect payment of salaries to religious ministers, full or partial social and medical insurance, and, as a result, pension provision. In conclusion, the author provides several directions for the development of state-confessional relations in the issue of state financial support for religious ministers.