Secular Café: Austrian law shows why church-state separation is so important

Secular Café Discuss atheism, religious apologetics, separation of church & state, theology, comparative religion and scripture.

Austrian law shows why church-state separation is so important May 5th 2012, 02:08 http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2012...+News+Daily%29 Austria is fucked up.... Quote: Austria has a new religion law. It establishes religious "boards" with representatives from recognized congregations, who can then make decisions about doctrine for all members of that particular faith . . . with or without individual congregations' consent. This is the antithesis of religious liberty. Or Chadash, a Liberal congregation in Vienna, has applied for official status to ensure it has a say in religious matters under Austria's new religion law. On Tuesday, the European Union for Progressive Judaism launched a letter-writing campaign urging Austria's minister of education, arts and culture, Claudia Schmied, to recognize the progressive congregation's application to become a "Kultusgemeinde," or official Jewish community, under public charter. Liberal Jewish leaders say the new religion law passed April 19 and due to go into effect within weeks would concentrate power in the hands of Orthodox Jewish groups on all religious matters — from conversions to marriages to burials. The law, which applies to all religions in Austria, establishes so-called religious corporations, or boards, consisting of representatives from state-recognized religious communities. The five recognized Jewish communities in Austria are Orthodox, and they would be empowered to make religious decisions, including whether or not to approve recognition for a new community, for the nation's approximately 10,000 Jews. At stake is state funding for schools, teachers and infrastructure. Thus, proponents argue, it is urgent for the 20-year-old Or Chadash to be granted official status before the law goes into effect. Interestingly enough, the European Union for Progressive Judaism is petitioning only to see this Liberal congregation accepted as an "official" Jewish community, so it has a vote on the religious boards. They are not fighting instead to overturn the law, a law which infringes upon the human rights of the people of Austria to worship according to their conscience. Can you imagine a world where the official, government-sanctioned "religious board" decides who can and can't get married, or who's worthy of burial in a particular cemetery? And where those boards also get to direct state funding to the schools their majority prefers, thus perpetuating their own stranglehold on the body politic? This law is a horror. Why aren't we hearing an uproar about this disaster in the making?

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