Religion in Austria
The variety of religious communities in Austria is legally divided into three categories, each of which different rights and obligations. There are the following categories ( ranked according to decreasing legal status ):
With this recognition, the public freedom of religion in Austria is supported.
- 2.1 The historical development
- 2.2 Constitutional Court demanded enforceability
- 2.3 1998-2008 no recognition of possible
- 2.4 From 2008
Recognized Religious Communities
Officially recognized churches and religious societies
Legal recognition goes back to the fundamental law of 21 December 1867 are given in which, inter alia any recognized church or religious community, certain fundamental rights. As the recognition can be achieved, however, was only established in 1874 in recognition of law. The first recognition under this Act made for the Old Catholic Church.
Privileges of the recognized religious communities
With the recognition of some special rights are attached, such as the possibility of religious education in schools, and religious assistance in hospitals. Currently, there are 14 recognized religious communities in Austria, which enjoy the following rights:
- Public practice of religion
- Exclusive right ( name protection, are entitled to exclusive pastoral care of its own members )
- Self- organization and management of the internal affairs
- Protect the institutions, foundations and funds towards secularization
- Right to open denominational private schools
- Provision of religious instruction in public schools
All of these religious communities enjoy greater protection, the denigration of religious teachings or disturbance in the practice of religion is regarded as a criminal offense ( § 188 StGB). Even the churches or the church service dedicated premises or things are in case of damage under increased protection by criminal law.
List of recognized churches and religious societies
The following collection of religious affiliation was part of the 2001 Census.
- Catholic Church ( 5918629 ) in the rites: Roman Catholic Church ( 5917274 )
- Greek Catholic church ( Uniate Churches multiple, 1089 )
- Armenian Catholic Church (266 )
- Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession ( Lutheran, 354 559 )
- Evangelical Church of the Helvetic Confession ( Reformed, 19.463 )
- The Armenian Apostolic Church in Austria ( 1824 )
- Coptic Orthodox Church in Austria ( recognized since 2003, 1623 )
- Syrian Orthodox Church in Austria ( 1589 )
- Greek Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity ( Church of Greece )
- Greek Orthodox church of St. George ( Church of Greece )
- Serbian - Greek Orthodox Church Community of St. Sava ( 74 198 )
- Romanian- Greek Orthodox Church Community of the Holy Resurrection ( 2819 )
- Russian Orthodox Church Community of St. Nicholas ( 3340 )
- Bulgarian Orthodox church of St. Ivan Rilski ( 1135 )
The recognition of the Moravian Church, which had been pronounced in 1880, was repealed by Ordinance of the Federal Minister for Education, Arts and Culture on 3 February 2012. This had a religious community in Austria only a few members and no religious community.
Registered confessional communities
Federal Law on the legal personality of religious denominations
This - adopted in 1997 - Act came into force on 10 January 1998. Thus, in addition to the officially recognized religious communities the category of state- registered (not "recognized "! ) Was introduced religious denominations. Although these do not have their own legal personality, but the privileges of recognized religious communities. After about a 10 - year waiting period of a registered Community commitment by the Cultural Office may ( at the Federal Ministry settled for Education, Arts and Culture), the status of a recognized religious community will be awarded. The first religious confessional community, who have achieved national recognition as a religious community according to these specifications of 1998, the Jehovah's Witnesses.
List of registered denominations
The year refers to the year of entry, in parentheses, the number of those who reported that commitment at the 2001 census:
Religious associations
Faith communities, yet who meet neither the statutory conditions of recognized religious communities of registered denominations, now have the opportunity to establish themselves as associations within the meaning of the law on associations. Even this otherwise simple possibility remained the unrecognized religious communities long denied.
Legislation adopted in 1867 Law on Associations was according to § 3a not " religious societies " applicable, ie such were not allowed to constitute itself as an association. This provision was loosely handled since the peace treaty of St. Germain in 1919, so that religious communities were able to establish a so-called " auxiliary organization" - the Baptists, for example, established such a 1921. Hilfsverein This was no jurisdiction for religious activity, but merely for economic and legal actions (eg buying a property ).
Also, the Law on Associations of 1951 - at least according to conventional Austrian administrative practice - designed so that it does not apply to religious communities. Only the Association Law of 2002 allowed religious communities constituted as an association.
Enforceability of state recognition
The historical development
In the 19th century were in Austria next to the Catholic Church from 1781 tolerated by the Josephinian tolerance patent Protestant churches, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Jewish religious society recognized. On the occasion of the formation of the Old Catholic Church was established by law in the Recognition Act 1874, as a non- recognized religious community could acquire the status of a recognized religious community. The Recognition Act has been interpreted by the competent certification Cultural Office ( at BMUK ) as well as by the Administrative Court that no claim to recognition was. Many applications for recognition were deported by the authorities, such as the 1906 introduced by the Baptists request: He was rejected only 3 years later. The authorities were not obliged to give any answer at all. The religious communities had no way to enforce a state recognition of this legal situation.
Some religious communities have been recognized by special laws. Some applications for recognition was granted by the cult of authority expressed the appreciation of the respective religious community by regulation.
Constitutional Court demanded enforceability
In 1988, the Constitutional Court, however, that against the distinction between recognized and non-recognized religions only there were no constitutional concerns, " if this distinction is objectively justified and further if done the recognition according to objective criteria and ... is also enforceable. " 1992 concretized the Constitutional Court 's interpretation of the law: " the competent Federal Minister, if he denies the existence of the conditions for recognition, modest negative as to deny on the request "; he came to the conclusion, however, the conditions for recognition were met, would have such a well done ( VfSlg 13.134/1992 ). In 1997, there was so much pressure on the Constitutional Court, that even the Administrative Court and the Education Office of the legal opinion joined that a claim for recognition is; which means that applications must be tested for recognition, and that utter depending on the results of the test on either an acknowledgment or a negative notice was issued to.
Before the legislature could respond to this change in the legal opinion, therefore, was in 1997 during a few months in theory, an enforceable claim to recognition. In practice, however, the only recognition application discussed in this period of the cult of authority was rejected by a decision, which - as the Constitutional Court in 1998 stated - the principle of equality injured: the rejection of the application was arbitrary and irrelevant reasons ( VfSlg 15124/1998 ).
1998-2008 no recognition of possible
With the adopted 1997 Religious Communities Act additional recognition requirements have been established, among other things, has a religious community prior to recognition there are "at least 10 years as a confessional community ". Since there is only since 11 July 1998, the possibility to exist as a state- registered confessional community was during the next ten years with no possibility for the recognition of a religious community. This deadline was not adhered to in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
This 1998 beginning 10 -year period encounters, according to Religious Communities Act also those religious communities that previously applications for recognition brought in for years or decades, whose applications were but simply ignored with the alleged by the Constitutional Court procedure by the competent worship office or had been rejected without rejecting was correctly founded.
From 2008
One of the adopted in 1997 additional conditions for recognition under the Recognition Act is: "Number of dependents in the amount of at least 2 of thousand of Austria's population according to the last census. " That means that today more than 16,000 persons specified in the census to would confess confessional community, so this future has the possibility to obtain the status of a recognized religious community. This recognition is impossible for almost all recognition recruiter even after expiry of the above -mentioned 10 -year period in 2008. The required number of 16,000 followers appear especially numerous experts chosen as arbitrary as
The Constitutional Court justifies the unequal treatment of non-recognized religions and their followers as before so that the distinction between recognized and non-recognized religious communities in Austria " is objectively justified " and that " further recognition is carried out according to objective criteria and ... is also enforceable. "
End of July 2008, the European Court of Human Rights that the Austrian religious law against the European Convention on Human Rights. Among other criticism was that the long wait of the right to a fair trial in violation. The Cultural Office, however, it was not to be deterred and hesitated recognition method further out. On May 7, 2009, the witnesses were eventually recognized as a religious community of Jehovah.
Currently, none of the non-recognized religions can be recognized because all recognition advertisers to the required minimum number of members since 1998 to fail.
Problems of representation
Some Muslim and Jewish groups do not see themselves represented by the state-recognized religious communities.
The strong Sunni- dominated, state-recognized Islamic Religious Community in Austria ( IGGÖ ) should also represented Shiites. Only since 2013, there is a registered Shiite confessional community. The Alevis Austria describe themselves as Muslims, but were not represented by the IGGÖ. Since May 2013, this is a separate Alevi recognized religious community, but also from that do not feel represented all Alevis
There are several Jewish communities who feel overwhelmed by the state-recognized religious community not represented, including the Orthodox community of Rabbi Jacob Biderman ( Chabad ) who petitioned for recognition as a separate religious community; as well as the liberal community Or Hadash.