Humanistic Association Austria

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The Humanist Association of Austria (HVÖ) is an Austrian secular - secular free-thinker organization . It is based in Vienna and was founded in 1978 under the name Freidenkerbund Austria . At an extraordinary general meeting on June 30, 2018, it was decided to rename "Freethinkers Association Austria" to "Humanist Association Austria" with expanded priorities, goals and activities.

Focus, goals and activities

The Humanist Association Austria (HVÖ) consists largely of atheists and agnostics and is committed to enlightenment , humanism and human rights . The association criticizes religion and rejects religious, magical or esoteric models of explaining the world. The focal points, goals and activities of the association lie in the representation of secular-humanistic interests, in the separation of state and religion , in the abolition of the privileges of the religious communities and in the promotion of a rational worldview - not least through the introduction of compulsory ethics lessons for everyone School types and levels. The association offers - based on the German and Anglo-Saxon model - humanistic rites at celebrations of life and organizes events on humanistic topics; u. a. for a self-determined beginning and end of life, for women's emancipation and equal rights and for LGBTQ issues. On November 30, 2019, the First Humanist Conference of Austria, organized by the HVÖ, took place at the University of Vienna with international participation with speakers from home and abroad. a. also presented the new focus and goals of the association,.

history

precursor

In 1887, a "non-denominational association" was founded in Vienna. This expanded, renaming several times, to other areas of German Austria and was close to liberals and social democrats. The successor organization in the First Republic was called the "Austrian Freethinkers Association" and had around 65,000 members, most of them with the SPÖ and z. Some sympathized with the KPÖ - in 1930 there was a split-off close to the KPÖ. Under clerical Austrofascism , the Freethinkers' Association was banned by emergency ordinance in June 1933 as the first social democratic cultural organization. In 1948 a re-establishment took place, which, however , was refused recognition by the SPÖ Interior Minister Oskar Helmer as the legal successor to the pre-war organization, which meant that the association did not get back its confiscated assets. The distance to the SPÖ resulted from their consideration for the church-related coalition partner ÖVP . On December 12, 1970, the Freethinkers' Association was dissolved by resolution of an extraordinary general meeting.

From the re-establishment to the present

In 1978, under the direction of Richard Klucsarits, the Freethinkers' Association (FDBÖ) was re-established as a politically independent organization with the surname "Institute for Scientific Weltanschauung". Klucsarits was the archivist of the SPÖ and headed the association until 1985. He also worked for the Sbor národní bezpečnosti and the Államvédelmi Hatóság . In 2007 the Upper Austrian regional group split off from the FDBÖ and has been independent since then under the name “Alliance for Humanism and Atheism”.

The Freethinker Association has led a shadowy existence in recent years. According to Joachim Riedl, the reasons for this were not due to a lack of interest in society; on the other hand, argued violent religious debates worldwide, the success of Richard Dawkins book Der Gotteswahn and the encouragement in the Anglo-American area for the movement of the brights . According to Joachim Riedl, the decisive factor would be that in the increasingly secularized Austrian society organized anti-religionists would be perceived as sectarians , to whom religious skeptics are just as indifferent as the churches. Against z. For example , when the Pope visited Vienna in 2007 , the FDBÖ was only able to mobilize around 150 participants for a demonstration. Since 2012, Gerhard Engelmayer has been the chairman of the Freethinkers' Association, who also acts as chairman of the now Humanist Association of Austria after the association was renamed and realigned on June 30, 2018.

Club media

After the last re-establishment, the federal organ was called Der Freidenker - Geist und Gesellschaft , then temporarily called itself a freethinker and is currently published quarterly under the title freethinker .

Memberships

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Association register entry ZVR number 867194788
  2. ↑ Program Austria. Humanist Congress accessed on January 8, 2020
  3. ↑ Press release Österr. Humanist Congress accessed on January 8, 2020
  4. ^ Revealed: The spy in the SPÖ headquarters
  5. ↑ Joachim Riedl: Austria - The Godless, Die Zeit (Austrian edition) of September 13, 2007.
  6. ↑ Association register entry ZVR number 867194788