Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
Freedom of religion is protected in Austria through a combination of laws, treaties, and conventions, along with the Federal Constitutional Act and the State Basic Law on the General Rights of Citizens. Freedom of religion includes the right to join, leave, or abstain from any Church or religious community. The right to practice one’s religion individually or in a community with others through worship, teaching, prayer, and observance of religious customs is guaranteed to all.
Article 7 of the Constitution and Article 2 of the State Basic Law on the General Rights of Citizens provides that all citizens are equal before the law and privileges based on religion are prohibited. Freedom of expression, belief, and conscience are protected as well. The law permits alternative services for conscientious objectors.
The criminal law prohibits “disruption of the practice of religion” (Article 189). There are enhanced penalties for damage of, or theft from, places dedicated to religious worship or sacred objects (Articles 126 and 128).
Austria’s blasphemy law provides that, “Anyone who publicly disparages or mocks a person or thing that is the object of worship of a domestic church or religious society, or a doctrine, [or other] behaviour” may be subject to criminal charges (Article 188). In 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on whether this law was compatible with the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In the case of E.S. v. Austria, the applicant had been convicted for suggesting that Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, had “paedophilic tendencies” by “referring to a marriage which Muhammad had concluded with Aisha, a six-year-old, and consummated when she had been nine.” The European court held that the Austrian courts “did not overstep their – wide – margin of appreciation” and was in “a better position to evaluate which statements were likely to disturb the religious peace in their country.”
Section 283 of the Austrian criminal code prohibits hate speech, which is described as public incitement to hatred against a person or group (including churches or religious societies), or insults towards a person or group “with the intention of violating [their] human dignity.” In January 2021, a new “Online Hate Speech” law came into force, which requires online platforms (if they meet certain criteria) to block illegal content within a specified period.
Austria is a secular state, and the legal system is religiously neutral. For historical reasons, Austria maintains a special relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, regulated by the 1933 Concordat with the Holy See and other laws, which includes special agreements about educational and financial issues.
Under the law, religious groups are divided into three categories (in descending order of status): officially recognised Churches and religious societies, religious denominational communities, and associations. Officially recognised religious societies have the right to practise public worship, to autonomous administration of their internal affairs, to found private schools (which can receive financial support from the state) and to provide religious instruction with public funding in private and public schools. Legal recognition endows a Church or religious community with the status of a corporate body and private legal capacity.
To be recognised as a Church or religious society, groups must either have been recognised as such before 1998 or must have membership equalling 0.2 percent of the population and have been in existence for 20 years (10 as an organised group, and five as a “confessional community”).
Religious groups not recognised as societies may seek recognition as “confessional communities.” This endows them with a certain level of legal status, but without the financial, immigration, and educational benefits available to recognised religious societies. Groups must have at least 300 members and submit their governing statutes and a written description of their religious doctrine. The Office for Religious Affairs (in the Federal Chancellery) determines if a group qualifies as a confessional community.
Religious instruction is mandatory in schools until the age of 14 and is publicly funded on a proportional basis for children belonging to one of the officially recognised religious societies. Schools offer ethics courses for students who opt out of religious education. Both religious and ethical instruction includes an explanation of the tenets of different religious groups.
A law prohibiting schoolchildren from wearing “religious clothing that is associated with a covering of the head” was struck down in December 2020. This was because head coverings worn by Sikh boys, or the Jewish kippah were excluded from the law, so the court ruled that “the selective ban ... applies exclusively to Muslim schoolgirls and thereby separates them in a discriminatory manner from other pupils.” In July 2022, the European Court ruled that private businesses were allowed to ban religious clothing and symbols if applied to all employees.
In January 2021, the Austrian government implemented changes to the “Islam Law”. This included the introduction of an “Islam Map” and an Observatory for Political Islam, which were introduced among a range of anti-terrorism measures following the November 2020 terrorist attack. Both initiatives have been condemned by some groups, including by Muslim groups that fear the “Islam Map” can be used by extremists to target their places of worship. The registration of all imams in the country was also included in the measures, as was a ban on symbols associated with extremist organizations (including far-right and Islamist).
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Austrian government recognized the special status of religion, so that general lockdowns would not apply to religious practices. Religious communities worked together with the government to develop safety measures and still be able to continue public worship. Each religious community was able to implement its own safety measures, for example, the Catholic Church suspended public worship during most lockdowns. Nevertheless, the special treatment of religion was criticized by secular groups and artists, who submitted a claim to the Austrian Court alleging it was discriminating towards the arts. On 30 June 2022, the Austrian Court ruled that “it was contrary to equality to exempt religious gatherings in any form from the restrictions of this lockdown” i.e., confirming that the special treatment of religion was discriminatory. Professor Kowatsch from the University of Vienna commented that this ruling was a clear sign that the “independent meaning of religious freedom must always be made plausible anew” in secular societies.
Incidents and developments
In 2020, the Austrian online police recording database was updated to allow officers to record biased motives, including religion. These reports are sent to the OSCE ODIHR (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) for their annual Hate Crime Report.
In 2021, Austrian police reported 169 anti-Christian crimes. The incidents were not divided by type of crime. Civil society contributions of data for the same year included 19 anti-Christian hate crimes, including 17 property crimes and two threats. While there was no police data on anti-Christian hate crimes prior to 2021, in 2020, civil society also documented 23 anti-Christian hate crimes, including 19 attacks on property and three threats.
The Observatory on Intolerance Against Christians (OIDAC) reported 29 anti-Christianincidents in Austria, including assaults, burglaries, arson, and vandalism of churches and public Christian statues during the reporting period. Reported incidents included graffiti outside the apartment of a Catholic man and various Catholic pro-life buildings reading “Abort Fundamentalists” and similar phrases. Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical churches in Graz, Mautern, Villach, Vienna among other cities were targets of vandalism, graffiti with phrases such as “F*cking Jesus” or “Satan” or general damage of property and threats. The St. Charles Church in Vienna was repeatedly vandalised, at least five times, throughout the reporting period. In June 2021, police arrested a man who had allegedly tortured six monks in Vienna for several months in 2018. In September 2021, a sacristan was brutally beaten up by a man in Vienna while he was praying in church. Thefts from churches and vandalism to the property of Christians were also documented by the organisation.
In 2021, Austrian police reported 301 anti-Muslim crimes, the incidents were not divided by type of crime. Civil society contributions of data for the same year included 40 anti-Muslim crimes composed of 22 property crimes, four threats and 14 violent attacks on people. In comparison, in 2020, the Austrian police reported only 16 anti-Muslim crimes while civil society documented 84 anti-Muslim hate crimes, including 71 property crimes, five threats and eight physical attacks.
In the summer of 2021, the Higher Regional Court of Graz upheld several complaints made against the raids that belonged to “Operation Luxor”. This operation aimed to dismantle Islamist terrorist organizations, but it was also widely criticized for targeting Muslim citizens without enough proof for the allegations. The latest case, dropped in January 2023, targeted a Muslim academic whose house was raided by the police in November 2020.
In June 2022, the “Observatory for Political Islam” released its first report, which found extremist literature in libraries and extremist speech in religious services. Books with anti-Semitic language were found in a publishing house linked to a Turkish party and movement. Some of these books in Turkish were written by known Islamist authors, while others included speeches and writings by Joseph Goebbels.
Also in June, a survey of the Graz Human Rights Advisory Council showed that Muslims continued to face discrimination in Graz. The report mentioned that cultural differences led to anti-Muslim bias and actions in educational institutions.
According to the anti-racism and Islamophobia documentation association (ZARA), racist and anti-Muslim attacks in public affected women the most. ZARA also published incidents of anti-Muslim vandalism, such as Islamophobic graffiti on a park bench in Vienna.
A mosque in Wiener Neustadt was damaged with graffiti in June 2022. Racist slogans like “Go back home”, and symbols were sprayed in multiple places by an unknown perpetrator. In October 2022, a website that reports Islam-related news wrote that several attacks against religious sites were witnessed in Austria. Therefore, the “Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich” (IGGÖ) held a series of workshops on how to improve security and how to react to threats against mosques.
After years of the Austrian government’s threats to close the Saudi-funded King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) due to human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, there were reports that the Centre would move to Geneva in 2020. Finally, in May 2022, the centre closed its doors in Austria and moved to Lisbon.
In August 2022, the Catholic Cardinal Christoph Schönborn publicly condemned attacks against the Jewish and Muslim communities. During the same month, several attacks against Viennese mosques or threatening or hate messages sprayed on walls and damage to property were found in three districts. In addition, a flag belonging to the Jewish religious community in Seestadt was torn down by three young men and a video was uploaded to social media.
According to the OSCE hate crime report, police reported 301 anti-Semitic crimes in 2021. Incidents were not divided by type of crime. The civil society reported 11 anti-Semitic hate crimes, including nine attacks to property and two threats. In comparison, in 2020, official figures were 36 anti-Semitic hate crimes. The civil society reported 95 anti-Semitic hate crimes, of which 56 were property crimes, 24 were threats and 15 were attacks against people.
The Jewish Community of Vienna and Forum against anti-Semitism reported that anti-Semitic incidents increased dramatically by 65 percent in 2021 with 965 incidents. This was the highest number recorded since they started reporting. They include 12 physical attacks, 22 threats, 95 property crimes, among other incidents.
Incidents over the reporting period included a case in which six young men threw stones and other objects against a synagogue in Vienna. A group of teenagers also threatened a large group of Jewish children in a park by screaming “Free Palestine” and waving a Turkish flag. In October 2021, a Jewish man in Vienna was insulted by another man with the words “f*cking Jew, I will butcher you, you dogs!” Another Jewish man found the words “Burn all Jews” written on the façade of his apartment in November 2021. Apart from physical threats and insults, several cases of vandalism and graffiti were recorded in different Austrian cities, some included symbols of the Star of David or swastikas. Online hate postings and commentaries were also recorded by the organisation.
The Observatory on Antisemitism in Vienna recorded a rise in coronavirus-related antisemitism during 2021. According to their report, the opposition to vaccination and Covid-19 implemented measures led to conspiracy theories that either relativized the Shoah or had a clear antisemitic stance. Following these reports and a constant rise in anti-Semitic crime, the government announced new measures to improve education to counter antisemitism in March 2022.
Prospects for freedom of religion
The 2020 update of the Austrian police recording database allowing officers to record biased motives including religion enabled a clearer picture of incidents during the period under review. A steep rise in antisemitic hate crimes, and numerous incidents against Muslims and Christians reveal a growing intolerance against both majority and minority religions. The nature of the incidents also shows ethnic and inter-religious motivated hate.
Changes by the Austrian government to the “Islam Law” which, among a range of anti-terrorism measures, included the introduction of an “Islam Map” and an Observatory for Political Islam, were also controversial and criticised by some religious groups.
Some negative legal indicators including the ruling by the Austrian Court that deemed as discriminatory the special treatment of religion during the pandemic, as compared to the arts, could sow serious confusion at the judiciary level by setting on equal footing a fundamental human right and the enjoyment of leisure activities or art.
Despite some increasing societal tensions, during the period under review the government implemented concrete measures and investigative bodies to offer better protection to the faithful, which is a positive trend not only for Austria but the entire region.
Austria