Folia Theologica 5. (1994)

Hugo Schwendenwein: Church and state in Austria

FOLIA THEOLOGICA 5 (1994)

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Hugo SCHWENDENWEIN

CHURCH AND STATE IN AUSTRIA

1. Austrian legislation concerning the religious domain consists of elements from various periods of Austrian history. Whatever any single one of these acts of legislation may be about, very important for the present legal status are laws from the second half of the past century, on whose creation the ideas of the revolution of 1848 had a great influence. Of eminent importance in our field is the Fundamental State Law on the Common Rights of Citizens of 1867 (Staatsgrundgesetz über die allgemeinen Rechte der Staatsbürger), whose catalogue of fundamental rights and freedoms forms part of Austrian constitutional law up to this day.

2. After the Great Occidental Schism, the Reformation launched by Luther and Zwingli, Protestants were oppressed and — with few exceptions — persecuted in Austria. The Habsburg Empire was a strictly Catholic state. In former days, the saying “I will make you Catholic” was used in the meaning of “I will compel you”. Since the time of Emperor Joseph II (1780-1790) Protestants, Orthodox Christians and Israelites enjoyed tolerance; the second half of the past century granted them even more rights than just tolerance.

3. The above-mentioned Fundamental State Law of 1867 guarantees both

— individual religious liberty (art. 14), and

— corporative religious liberty for legally organized and recognized denominations (art. 15).

4. Every adult person enjoys complete freedom of conscience; he or she may join or leave any church or denomination and has the right to exercise his/her religion both in private and in public. The public exercise of religion for all was granted in later documents: the Peace Treaty of St. German of 1919, BGBI. 1920 (this was the peace treaty after World War

I), and in the European Declaration of Human Rights of 1950, adopted by Austria in 1958.

The Fundamental State Law of 1867 also granted all citizens free access to all occupations (trades, professions, official positions), irrespective of their religious belief: Nobody should be discriminated for reasons of his religion, nor should anybody be constrained to participate in religious rites.