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AUSTRIA
Austria is a democracy with a Constitution which provides for freedom of religion. Officially, three quarters of the population is Roman Catholic.
Despite Article 14(2) of the Constitution guaranteeing civil and political rights to all Austrians regardless of their religion, in the summer of 1997 one of Austria’s leading parties, the People’s Party (OEVP), passed a resolution excluding members of alleged “sects” from the party. The OEVP is the sister party in Austria of the German Christian Democratic Union, the first national party ever to bar members of the Church of Scientology from membership solely because they are Scientologists.
The OEVP’s Resolution was widely criticized as unconstitutional by the press and by the Freedom party. Austrian government attempts to restrict freedom of religion were also criticized by the U.S. State Department in July 1997.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, who reports annually to the United Nations Human Rights Commission on abuses of religious freedom around the world, noted in his 1996 report that “The term ’sect’ seems to have a pejorative connotation. A sect is to be considered different from a religion, and thus not entitled to the same protection. This kind of approach is indicative of a propensity to lump things together, to discriminate and to exclude, which is hard to justify and harder still to excuse, so injurious is it to religious freedom.... What are the major religions if not successful sects?... One cannot say that sects should not benefit from the protection given to religion just because they have no chance to demonstrate their durability.”
In December 1997, the Austrian Parliament passed a law which established a category of ‘second-class religions’ under the heading of “religious confession communities.” The law was created to make it exceedingly difficult for Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hindus, Scientologists and other minority religions in Austria to gain governmental recognition as a religion. Mr. Willy Fautre, head of the Belgian-based Human Rights Without Frontiers, has condemned the new law as “dangerous” and “discriminatory” because “it established various categories of religions, and therefore various categories of citizens.” The law has also met sharp criticism from constitutional experts and human rights advocates within Austria itself. Professor Heinz Mayer of the University of Vienna’s law school characterised it as “very refined legal discrimination... designed as a tool to avoid recognition for all [religious] groups.” The inequity of the new law is illustrated by this fact: If officially recognised religions in Austria such as Buddhism and Judaism had to apply for recognition under it, they would fail to qualify.”
Article 14 of the Austrian Constitution states that:
“(1) Everyone is guaranteed complete freedom of conscience and creed.
“(2) The enjoyment of civic and political rights is independent of religious belief. Nevertheless duties incumbent on nationals may not be prejudiced by religious beliefs.
“(3) No one can be forced to observe a ritual act or to participate in an ecclesiastical ceremony insofar as he is not subordinate to another who is by law invested with such authority.”
Article 15:
“Every Church and religious society recognised by the law has the right to joint public religious practise, arranges and administers its internal affairs autonomously, and retains possession and enjoyment of its institutions, endowments, and funds devoted to worship, instruction, and welfare, but is like every society subject to the general laws of the land.”
In the case referred to in the previous chapter, in re Fabio Rasp, the Austrian Supreme Court upheld the right of a mother to retain custody of her child, which had been taken away from her solely based on her religious affiliation. The Court stated that “Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights also guarantees protection against discrimination on any grounds such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status; also persons in similar situations without factual and reasonable justification, may not be treated differently.”
Continued...
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