Recognized religious communities in Austria

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The large number of religious communities in Austria is legally - as a legal entity - divided into three categories, each of which is associated with different rights and obligations. These are the following categories (in order of decreasing legal status):

  1. legally recognized churches and religious communities
  2. registered religious denominations
  3. religious associations

The recognition does not make any statements about the “ legitimacy ” or even “permissibility” of a religious denomination. From the point of view of the Austrian state, those persons who do not belong to a state-recognized or registered religious community are deemed to be "without confession":

"People who do not belong to a legally recognized church or religious society or to a state-registered religious denomination community are deemed to be persons without a denomination."

- Implementing decree on religious education . Gfz: BMUKK-10.014 / 2-III / 3/2007 (on uibk.ac.at)

This means that, from a purely legal point of view, the Austrian state is considered to be “without a confession” even if you are a member of a religious community that has (only) constituted itself in the form of an association.

In Austria nevertheless full private and public there is religious freedom (freedom of religion) , religious freedom (the freedom to make faith in public or not), far-reaching protection against sectarian discrimination and strict separation of church and state . The recognition only regulates some special public-law privileges and protective rights and financial advantages; the registration represents a preliminary stage to what extent the state conditions for the granting of these rights are met. Clubs alone have to meet general conditions such as legal compliance and non-profit orientation.

Recognized religious communities

Legally recognized churches and religious communities

Basic data
Title: Law of May 20, 1874 on the legal recognition of religious communities
Abbreviation: Recognition Act [1874] (unofficial)
Type: Federal law or regulation
Scope: Republic of Austria
Legal matter: State Church Law
Reference: RGBl. No. 68/1874
Date of law: May 20, 1874
Legal text: ris.bka
Please note the note on the applicable legal version !

The legal recognition goes back to the state constitution of December 21, 1867 , in which, among other things, every recognized church or religious community is granted certain basic rights. How recognition can be achieved, however, was only stipulated in the Recognition Act in 1874 . The first recognition under this law was for the Old Catholic Church.

The prerequisite for state recognition of a religious community is (since 1874)

"That their religious doctrine , their worship , their constitution , as well as the chosen designation contain nothing illegal or morally offensive"

- Section 1, line 1 of the Recognition Act

In addition, the Confessional Community Act of 1998 requires : "There must be a positive basic attitude towards society and the state." (Section 11, item 3)

For future recognition as a church or religious society, the Confessional Community Act also prescribes that the relevant membership has 2 ‰ of the Austrian population (Section 11. Z. 1 lit d; according to the last census, around 8.5 million in 2011 approximately 17,000 members). However, only about half of the previously recognized churches have such a membership, the others are largely far below. The Recognition Act , on the other hand, then only requires the "existence of at least one [...] established religious community" (Section 1, line 2).

Another prerequisite is ( Confessional Community Act § 11. Z. 1 lit a-c):

  • Life in Austria of 20 years in general and 10 years in an organized form, of which at least 5 years as a religious denominational community, or
  • At least 100 years of the denomination in general and 10 years of activity in Austria in an organized form instead of the legal form as a religious denominational community, or
  • general existence of at least 200 years instead of 10 years of activity in Austria

Privileges of recognized religious communities

Certain special rights are associated with recognition:

  • Exclusive rights (name protection, right to exclusive religious support for own members)
  • Independent organization and administration of internal affairs
  • Protection of institutions, foundations and funds against secularization
  • Right to the establishment of denominational private schools
  • Providing religious instruction in public schools
  • Religious assistance in hospitals

All of these religious communities enjoy increased protection, with the degradation of religious teachings or disruption in the practice of religion as a criminal offense (Section 188 of the Criminal Code). Even rooms or objects dedicated to churches or worship services are subject to increased criminal protection in the event of damage.

List of recognized churches and religious communities

The following list includes the 16 legally recognized churches and religious communities. Sometimes churches and religious societies are combined into corporations, sometimes vice versa. The position of the Catholic Church is regulated in the Concordat that was negotiated in 1931, signed on June 5, 1933 and entered into force on May 1, 1934. The recognition of some rather larger religious communities was enshrined in their own law ( Protestant law, Orthodox law, Israelite law, Islam law ), that of the others by ordinance .

The record of denomination was part of the 2001 census .

The recognition of the Moravian Brethren , which was pronounced in 1880 (as Evangelical Brethren Church / Moravian Brothers Church ), was revoked in 2012 ( Federal Law Gazette II No. 31/2012 ).

(A1)Several United churches of the Byzantine rite, looked after by the Ordinariate for the Byzantine believers in Austria .
(A3)This Austria-specific summary has historical reasons, brought together in the Orthodox Bishops' Conference .
(A4) Metropolis of Austria - Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ; There are historical reasons that two communities are explicitly recognized
(A6)This Mormon denomination was recognized by the state of Utah in 1955 in response to appreciation for Marshall Plan aid.
(A7)The Islam in Austria has been recognized since 1912, after the Muslim-majority country Bosnia and Herzegovina part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was.
(A8)At the time of the 2001 census, they belonged to the Islamic religious community, including the Alevis, which are now also recognized, and the Shiites who are now state-registered; In 2010 the VGH determined that there is no sole representation by the IGGiÖ.

State-registered religious denominations

Basic data
Title: Federal law on the legal personality of religious denominational communities
Abbreviation: Confessional Community Act (unofficial)
Type: Federal law or regulation
Scope: Republic of Austria
Legal matter: State Church Law
Reference: BGBl. I No. 19/1998
Last change: BGBl. I No. 78/2011
Legal text: ris.bka
Please note the note on the applicable legal version !

Federal law on the legal personality of religious denominational communities

This law - passed in 1997 - came into force on January 10, 1998. In addition to the state-recognized religious communities, the category of state-registered (not "recognized"!) Religious denominations was introduced. Although these have their own legal personality (§ 2), they do not have the privileges of recognized religious communities . The confessional communities are written not by law but by notice of assessment of worship Office (since 2014 in the Federal Chancellery , duly before the Ministry of Education) recognized by the state.

The prerequisite is, among other things:

  • the credibility of the power of representation (§ 3 line 1)
  • the submission of statutes [...] from which the content and practice of the religious denomination result (§ 3 line 2)
  • proof that at least 300 people residing in Austria belong to the denominational community (Section 3 subparagraph 3)

A further basic requirement is that there is no “illegal disruption” in the relationship with other churches and religious communities. Therefore, the religious associations also have party status in the proceedings (Section 3, line 4).

 After a waiting period of around 10 years and the fulfillment of further necessary criteria (Section 11), a registered denomination can be granted the status of a recognized religious community by the Office of Culture (currently located in the Federal Chancellery ). The first religious denominational community to achieve state recognition as a religious community based on these requirements in 1998 are the Jehovah's Witnesses.

List of registered denominations

The year number refers to the year of entry, in brackets the number of those who stated that creed in the 2001 census.

Requested by a group of atheists

On December 30, 2019, the Atheistic Religious Society in Austria (ARG) submitted an application to the Office of Culture for registration as a religious denominational community. The ARG reached the required number of 300 members residing in Austria according to the Confessional Communities Act in 2015. At the end of 2019, affidavits were also available in which the members confirm that they are not also members of another religious or denominational community. ARG currently has 321 members. According to board member Wilfried Apfalter, there is no precise definition of religion in Austria's laws. An EU directive of the European Parliament and the European Council from 2011, however, provides a more comprehensive concept of religion that explicitly includes not only theistic but also non-theistic and atheistic beliefs.

Religious associations

Religious communities that meet neither the legal requirements of recognized religious communities nor those of registered denominational communities now have the option of constituting themselves as associations within the meaning of association law. Even this simple possibility was denied to the unrecognized religious communities for a long time.

According to Section 3a, the Association Act passed in 1867 was not applicable to “religious societies”; H. such were not allowed to constitute an association. This provision has handled more relaxed since the Peace Treaty of St. Germain in 1919, so that religious communities a so-called "relief organization" could set up - the Baptists z. B. founded one in 1921. This charity was then not responsible for religious activity, but only for economic and legal actions (e.g. buying a property).

The Association Act of 1951 was also interpreted - at least in accordance with current Austrian administrative practice - in such a way that it was not applicable to religious communities. Only the Association Act of 2002 allows religious communities to be constituted as associations.

State recognition enforceability

The historical development

In the 19th century, in addition to the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Churches tolerated by the Josephinian Tolerance Patent of 1781, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Israelite Religious Society were recognized in Austria . On the occasion of the formation of the Old Catholic Church, the Recognition Act of 1874 stipulated how an unrecognized religious community could acquire the status of a recognized religious community. The Recognition Act was interpreted by the Kultusamt responsible for recognition (at that time at the BMUK ) as well as by the Administrative Court in such a way that there was no entitlement to recognition. Many applications for recognition were delayed by the authorities, such as the application brought in by the Baptists in 1906: It was only rejected 3 years later. The authorities were not required to give any answer at all. In this legal situation, the religious communities had no way of enforcing state recognition.

Individual religious communities were recognized by special laws. Some applications for recognition were granted, as the cultural authority issued an ordinance approving the relevant religious community.

Constitutional Court called for enforceability

In 1988, however , the Constitutional Court ruled that the distinction between recognized and unrecognized religions would only be free of constitutional concerns "if this distinction can be objectively justified and if recognition is based on factual criteria and ... is also enforceable." Constitutional Court its legal opinion: "If he denies that the requirements for recognition are met, the competent Federal Minister must reject the application in accordance with the decision"; However, if he came to the conclusion that the prerequisites for recognition were met, then such recognition would have to take place (VfSlg 13.134 / 1992). In 1997, under pressure from the Constitutional Court, the Higher Administrative Court and the Office of Culture agreed with the legal opinion that there is a right to recognition; This means that applications for recognition are to be examined and that, depending on the result of the examination, either recognition is to be given or a negative decision is to be issued.

Before the legislature could react to this change in legal opinion, there was theoretically an enforceable right to recognition for a few months in 1997. In practice, however, the only application for recognition dealt with by the cultural authority during this period was rejected by a decision which - as the Constitutional Court found in 1998 - violated the principle of equality: the rejection of the application was arbitrarily and irrelevantly justified (VfSlg 15124/1998).

No recognition possible from 1998 to 2008

With the Confessional Communities Act passed in 1997, additional requirements for recognition were laid down. Among other things, a religious community must exist for “at least 10 years as a religious denomination” before recognition. Since it has only been possible to exist as a state-registered religious denomination since July 11, 1998, there was no possibility of recognition as a religious community for the following ten years. However, the Coptic Orthodox Church failed to meet this deadline.

According to the Confessional Community Act, this 10-year period, which begins in 1998, also applies to those religious communities that had already submitted applications for recognition years or decades before, but whose applications were simply ignored or rejected by the competent cultural office by the procedure criticized by the Constitutional Court, without the rejection was correctly justified.

Since 2008

One of the additional requirements for recognition in accordance with the Recognition Act, decided in 1997, is: “Number of relatives equal to at least 2 out of a thousand of the population of Austria after the last census.” This means that currently over 16,000 people are in the census to a certain Confessional community would have to confess so that it has the opportunity in the future to achieve the status of a recognized religious community. Even after the above-mentioned 10-year period has expired in 2008, recognition is impossible for almost all applicants for recognition. The required number of 16,000 followers appears to numerous experts as being arbitrarily chosen because

a) seven of the twelve religious communities that were already recognized in 1997 have significantly fewer members than 16,000 and
b) the legislature recognized a religious community even after 1997 (namely the Coptic Church, 2003) which had only 1,633 members at the last census, i.e. only a tenth of the number of members required for recognition. While other applicants for recognition were referred to the 10-year period prescribed in the Confessional Community Act, the legislature made it possible for the Coptic Church to be recognized by an "Oriental Orthodox Church Law" passed in 2003, which in this particular case ensures compliance with the recognition requirements required by other religious communities was not necessary.

The Constitutional Court justifies the existing unequal treatment of unrecognized religions and their followers with the fact that the distinction between recognized and unrecognized religious communities in Austria is “factually justified” and that “furthermore, recognition is based on factual criteria and ... is also enforceable. “The position of the legislature with regard to the recognition of small religious communities was that the Recognition Act only regulates the conditions under which the competent minister has to grant recognition in any case. Recognition under individual law that wins the majority in the parliament, i.e. expresses the will of society, is not affected by this and is to be regarded as being of higher value.

At the end of July 2008, the European Court of Human Rights found that Austrian religious law violated the European Convention on Human Rights. Among other things, it was criticized that the long waiting time violates the right to a fair trial. However, the Kultusamt delayed the recognition process further; Only after the Jehovah's Witnesses filed a late complaint with the Administrative Court in spring 2009 and also informed the Council of Europe that the Republic of Austria was not implementing the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, the Jehovah's Witnesses were recognized as a religious community on May 7, 2009.

Currently none of the unrecognized religions can be recognized, as all applicants for recognition fail because of the minimum number of members required since 1998.

Problems of representation

The religious associations in Austria naturally also reflect the group formations worldwide. Some Muslim and Jewish groups do not see themselves represented by the state-recognized religious communities.

The strongly Sunni -influenced, state-recognized Islamic Faith Community in Austria (IGGiÖ) should also represent Shiites . There has only been a registered Shiite denominational community (Schia) since 2013 . Some of the Alevis in Austria also call themselves Muslims, but were not represented by the IGGÖ. Since May 2013 there has been a separate Alevi recognized religious community (ALEVI). However, not all Alevis feel represented by this either, there is the Federation of Alevi  Congregations in Austria  (AABF; Alevi Religious Society in Austria ARÖ) and the Kurdish Altarevites (AAGÖ), who do not see themselves as part of Islam at all.

There are several Jewish communities that do not feel represented by the state-recognized religious community, including the Orthodox community of Rabbi Jacob Biderman ( Chabad ), which applied for recognition as a separate religious community; likewise the liberal community of Or Chadash .

literature

  • Federal Chancellery, Federal Press Service: Religions in Austria. Overview of the religious communities recognized in Austria. Brochure. Vienna 2004, 2014 (PDF, bka.gv.at).
  • Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer (Ed.): Fresh water on arid land. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the Federation of Baptist Congregations in Austria (= Baptism Studies; 7). Kassel 2005, pp. 207–212 (Chapter. Freedom of Belief ).
  • Johann Hirnsperger u. a. (Ed.): Paths to Salvation? Religious denominations in Austria. Self-presentation and theological reflection (= theology in cultural dialogue; 7). Styria, Graz a. a. 2001; Johann Hirnsperger et al. (Ed.): Paths to salvation? Religious denominations in Austria: constitutions and statutes (= theology in cultural dialogue; 7a). Styria Graz 2002; Johann Hirnsperger et al. (Ed.): Paths to Salvation? Religious denomination communities in Austria: Pentecostal Church, Congregation of God and Mennonite Free Church. Ecumenical and interreligious perspectives (= theology in cultural dialogue; 7b). Tyrolia Innsbruck 2005; Johann Hirnsperger et al. (Ed.): Paths to Salvation? Religious denominations in Austria: Elaia Christengemeinden (ECG) and Islamic Alevi Faith Community in Austria (IAGÖ). With contributions from other religious communities (= theology in cultural dialogue, 7c). Tyrolia Innsbruck 2014.
  • Herbert Kalb : The recognition of churches and religious communities in Austria. In: Richard Potz, Reinhard Kohlhofer: The "recognition" of religious communities. Verlag Österreich, Vienna 2002. ISBN 3-7046-3719-X
  • Karl Vocelka : Multi-denominational Austria . Religions in the past and present . Styria, Vienna a. a. 2013.

Web links

The institutions:

  1. ↑ a b Catholic Church Austria (kathisch.at)
  2. ↑ St. Barbara Church in Vienna (st-barbara-austria.org)
  3. ↑ The Vienna Mecharisten (mechitharisten.org)
  4. ↑ a b Evangelical Church in Austria (evang.at)
  5. ↑ Evangelical Church HB (reformiertekirche.at)
  6. ↑ Old Catholic Church of Austria (altkatholiken.at)
  7. ↑ Armenian Catholic Church in Austria (armenian.at)
  8. ↑ Coptic Orthodox Diocese in Austria (kopten.at)
  9. ↑ Vienna Community Center of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch (suryoye.at)
  10. ↑ a b Orthodox Church in Austria (orthodoxe-kirche.at)
  11. ↑ a b c Metropolis von Austria (metropolisaustria.at) ; Municipalities ( Memento from June 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Serbian Orthodox Church in Austria - Patriarchate of Belgrade , on orthodoxe-kirche.at
  13. ^ Romanian Orthodox Church in Vienna (rumkirche.at) , German
  14. ↑ Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Vienna (nikolsobor.org) ( Memento from October 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), German
  15. ↑ Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St. Iwan Rilski (bulgarischekirche.at) , German
  16. ↑ Methodist Church in Austria (emk.at)
  17. ↑ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Austria (kirche-jesu-christi.at)
  18. ↑ New Apostolic Church Austria (nak.at)
  19. ↑ Jewish Community Vienna (ikg-wien.at)
  20. ↑ Islamic Faith Community in Austria (derislam.at)
  21. ↑ Alevi religious community in Austria (aleviten.at)
  22. ↑ Buddhism in Austria - Austrian Buddhist Religious Society (buddhismus-austria.at)
  23. ↑ Jehovah's Witnesses in Austria (jehovas-zeugen.at)
  24. ↑ Free churches in Austria (freikirchen.at)
  25. ↑ Old Alevi religious community in Austria (alt-aleviten.com)
  26. ↑ Bahá'í Austria (at.bahai.org)
  27. ^ The Christian Community - Movement for Religious Renewal in Austria (christengemeinschaft.at)
  28. ↑ Hindu Religious Society in Austria (hroe.at)
  29. ↑ Islamic-Shiite religious community in Austria (schia.at)
  30. ^ Church of the Seventh-day Adventists Austria (adventisten.at)
  31. ↑ Pentecostal Church Congregation of God (gemeindegottes.at)
  32. ^ Unification Church in Austria (Vereinigungskirche.at)
  33. ↑ United Pentecostal Church Austria (vpkoe.at)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ as an example, Austria: legally recognized church or religious society and state-registered religious denomination community are two of the forms of recognized religions in Austria ;
    cf. for further use also "For the time between leaving one religious community and entering another religious community, one is considered to be a person without confession (above)." in general on transferring to another religious community , help.gv.at
  2. ↑ a b c see Confessional Community Act - adopted changes , help.gv.at >> Legal innovations >> Federal Law Gazette >> Archive >> August 2011.
  3. ↑ After 2001, religious affiliation is no longer officially recorded and figures are published by the religious communities themselves.
  4. ↑ Regulated in the Federal Act on External Legal Relationships of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in Austria (Oriental Orthodox Church Law; OrientKG). StF: Federal Law Gazette I No. 20/2003
  5. ↑ a b Regulated in the federal law of June 23, 1967 on external legal relationships of the Greco-Oriental Church in Austria. StF: Federal Law Gazette No. 229/1967
  6. ↑ Law of March 21, 1890, regarding the regulation of the external legal relationships of the Israelite religious society. StF: RGBl. No. 57/1890; amended April 2012 (as amended online, ris.bka ).
  7. ↑ No recognition for Alevis: decision unconstitutional - several Islamic communities permitted. Press release Constitutional Court, December 9, 2010.
  8. ↑ RGBl. No. 40/1880
  9. ↑ Karl Schwarz: Squaring the circle under cultic law? Comments on the legal recognition of the Moravian Brethren Church in 1880. In: Austrian Archive for Law & Religion 2003, pp. 481–496 ( www.etf.cuni.cz/kat-cd/schwarz article online ( Memento from June 9, 2007 in Internet Archive ), etf.cuni.cz).
  10. ^ Also the Georgian Orthodox Church in Austria .
  11. ↑ The Greek Orthodox Church - Patriarchate of Antioch ( Antiochian Rum Orthodox Church ) is initially only organized as an association.
  12. ↑ "Religious denominational communities within the meaning of this federal law are associations of followers of a religion who are not legally recognized." § 1. Concept of religious denominational community in the Confessional Community Act
  13. ^ The Kultusamt ( Memento from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) bka.gv.at
  14. ↑ Religious denominations on the website of the Federal Chancellery , viewed on February 6, 2020
  15. ↑ Atheists submitted an application for confessional community orf.at, January 2, 2020, accessed January 2, 2020.
  16. ^ Graf-Stuhlhofer: Fresh water on arid land . 2005, p. 210.
  17. ↑ Johann Hirnsperger: The new law on the legal personality of religious confessional communities. Comments on the occasion, goals and content. In: Hirnsperger: Ways to Salvation? . 2001, pp. 153–171, there 155 on association law: Law of November 15, 1867, RGBl. No. 134, republished in Federal Law Gazette No. 233/1951 .
  18. ^ Graf-Stuhlhofer: Fresh water on arid land . 2005, p. 210.
  19. ^ Graf-Stuhlhofer: Fresh water on arid land. 2005, p. 211.
  20. ↑ judgment of the Europ. Court of Human Rights in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses
  21. ^ Die Presse on July 31, 2008 ( Memento from February 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ Michael Weiß: Austria's Alevis are independent , religion.orf.at, December 17, 2010
  23. ↑ Ordinance of the Federal Minister for Education, Art and Culture regarding the recognition of followers of the Islamic Alevi Faith Community as a religious society ( Federal Law Gazette II No. 133/2013 );
    Alevis before recognition as a religious society, religion.orf.at, April 9, 2013.
  24. ↑ cf. Foundation of religious societies in Austria by associations close to the PKK Urgent inquiry (10751 / J), parliamentary materials .
  25. ↑ Alevis against “forced Islamization”. wien.orf.at, February 27, 2016.