Austria: Religious Freedom
Status*
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| 1997
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U.S.
Department of State Human Rights Report 1998
The Constitution generally provides for freedom of religion of individuals.
However, the status of religious organizations is governed by the 1874
"Law on Recognition" of churches and by a January law establishing
the status of "confessional communities." Officially, 75.3
percent of the populace is Roman Catholic, and there are 11 other recognized
religious organizations. Religious recognition under the 1874 law has
wide- ranging implications, e.g., the authority to participate in the
state-collected religious taxation program, to engage in religious education,
and to import religious workers to act as ministers, missionaries, or
teachers. Although in the past nonrecognized religious groups have had
problems obtaining resident permits for foreign religious workers, administrative
procedures adopted in 1997 have addressed this problem in part.
Previously, some nonrecognized religious groups were able to organize
as legal entities or associations, although this route has not been
available universally. Some groups even have done so while applying
for recognition as religious communities under the 1874 law. Many such
applications for recognition have languished in the Education Ministry,
in some cases for years. Following years of bureaucratic delay and an
administrative court order instructing the Education Ministry to render
a decision, in 1997 the Ministry denied the request for recognition
of Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses appealed this decision to
the Constitutional Court.
In January a new law went into effect that allows nonrecognized religious
groups to seek official status as confessional communities without the
fiscal and educational privileges available to recognized religions.
To apply groups must have 300 members and submit to the Government their
written statutes, describing the goals, rights, and obligations of members,
membership regulations, officials, and financing. Groups also must submit
a written version of their religious doctrine, which must differ from
that of any existing religion recognized under the 1874 law or registered
under the new law, for a determination that their basic beliefs do not
violate public security, public order, health and morals, or the rights
and freedoms of citizens. The new law also sets out additional criteria
for eventual recognition according to the 1874 law, such as a 20-year
observation period (at least 10 of which must be as a group organized
as a confessional community under the new law) and membership equaling
at least two one- thousandths of the Austrian population. Many religious
groups and independent congregations do not meet the 300-member threshold
for registration under the new law. Only Jehovah's Witnesses currently
meet the higher membership requirement for recognition under the 1874
law.
In a decision issued in March, the Constitutional Court voided the Education
Ministry's decision on the Jehovah's Witnesses and ordered a new decision
based on the January law on the Status of Confessional Communities.
In July Jehovah's Witnesses received the status of a confessional community.
According to the January law, they are now subject to a 10-year observation
period before they are eligible for recognition.
As of July 10, the Education Ministry had granted the status of "confessional
community" to eight religious groups, including for example, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Baptists, and Seventh Day Adventists. The Church of Scientology
and the Hindu Mandir Association withdrew their applications. The Ministry
rejected the application of the Sahaja Yoga group.
Proponents of the law describe it as an opportunity for religious groups
to become officially registered as religious organizations, providing
them with a government "quality seal." However, numerous religious
groups not recognized by the State, as well as some religious law experts
dismiss the purported benefits of obtaining status under the new law
and have complained that the new law's additional criteria for recognition
under the 1874 law obstruct claims to recognition and formalize a second-class
status for nonrecognized groups. Experts have questioned the new law's
constitutionality.
In 1998 the Government continued its information campaign against religious
sects considered potentially harmful to individuals and society. As
part of the campaign, the Family Ministry initiated a new "Federal
Office on Sects", which is responsible for collecting and providing
information on sects active in the country.
The Austrian People's Party (OeVP) retained the policy it set in 1997
that party membership is incompatible with membership in a sect. This
policy led to the resignation of a local OeVP official in 1997. In July
the city government of the provincial capital Innsbruck denied permission
for a concert sponsored by Scientologists, referring to a "ban
on Scientology-sponsored activities" stipulated in a 1997 city
government decision.
Source:
County Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department
of State
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Religious
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