A Nail in the Coffin of the Representation Monopoly of a Single Community: The Quest for Recognition of Intra-religious Pluralism
by Kerstin Wonisch
Question(s) at stake
Whether the rejection of the application of the Cultural Association of Alevis for legal personality as a state-registered religious community, which was based on the assumption of the exclusion of the existence of a further Islamic religious community in the Islam Act 1912, violated the right to freedom of religion as enshrined in the Constitution and in Art. 9 ECHR.
Outcome of the ruling
The rejection of the application of the Cultural Association of Alevis for the acquisition of legal personality as a state-registered religious community violated their right to freedom of religion, as it was based on the unconstitutional assumption of the exclusion of the existence of a further Islamic religious community by the Islam Act 1912. However, the denial of recognition as a legally recognized religious society did not violate constitutionally guaranteed rights.
Country:
Official citation
Constitutional Court Austria, Finding of 1 December 2010, B1214/09 (VfGH, Erkenntnis vom 1. Dezember 2010, B1214/09)
Topic(s)
Keywords:
Autonomy of religious communities Cultural diversity Recognition and registration of groups State neutrality Legal status Right to self-identification
Tag(s):
Alevi Islam Recognition criteria Intra-religious diversity
Bibliographic information
Access case report
View case report in the CUREDI databaseAbout the authors
Kerstin Wonisch (Eurac Research Institute for Minorities Rights, Bolzano, Italy)
Researcher in the field of religious minorities at EURAC Bolzano. Holding a background in law as well as religious science my research focuses on the accommodation of Islamic pluralism and on questions of religion, gender and human rights.