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Austria's Religions
Home » Austria » Austria - The People and the Culture » Austria's ReligionsPosted by Your Guide on May 17, 2006 7:31 PM
The Kingdom of Austria, along with Bavaria, was the home of the Counter-Reformation that took place in the 1500s and 1600s while the Protestant Reformation was going on in Germany. The Austrian monarchy at the time saw itself as a warrior fighting to maintain Roman Catholicism and so oppressed any other religion. However, in 1781, the Patent of Tolerance was issued, allowing limited freedom for Christians; and in 1867 religious freedom became a constitutional right. By that time, Austria was home to many religions including Roman Catholicism (which was still the dominant religion), Bulgarian Orthodox Christians, Mormons, Calvanist and Lutheran Protestants, Muslims, and more.
By 1918, Catholicism was being treated as something like a state religion; and by the end of the 1900s, 73% of Austrians were registered as Roman Catholic and about 5% Protestant. For many years now, these numbers have been on decline. About 12% of Austrians now claim no religious community, while the remaining population are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or of other beliefs. Interestingly, a recent survey demonstrated that Austria is one of the countries with the strongest belief in God; in fact 84% of Austrians claim this belief. Despite the 12% of people in the country without an organized religion, religious beliefs as a whole seem to be important in Austrian worldview and lifestyles.
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