Catholics becoming a minority in Austria
The debate over a mandatory ethics classes for those who opt out of religion classes, brings to light interesting details. The majority of opt outs are not by Catholic, but by Muslim students.
In the two most populous districts of the City of Linz and Linz-region around 9400 children attend the elementary and high schools. From the response to a question in the State Parliament by the Freedom Party, the Education Board stated that from among the Catholics in Linz there were 171 opt -outs (City of Linz: 284), from Protestants 53 opt outs (65 in the City), from other denominations 165, but 960 of the Muslims in Linz-region opted out and and 906 in the city.
In Upper Austria, in autumn 2007, 1468 Catholics opt outs were registed, 266 Protestant opt outs, 4895 from Muslims and 599 from other denominations.
The reasons that so many children are kept away from the Islamic religious instruction are manifold, as the school inspector responsible for religion, Willibald Burgstaller said. Because the teachers due to staff shortages must teach at many schools, the classes are arranged at times which are difficult for the pupils .
Then it should be noted that due to the existence of different interpretations of Islam, often the ideas of parents and the teachers diverge - for example between Muslims from Turkey or from Arab countries. And finally, also some of the children are entrusted to private teachers of religion.
Catholic minorities
The fact that Catholics are in the majority in religious classes, at least in the cities is no longer self-evident. In the City of Linz, Catholic pupils are in a minority in 231 of the 583 religious classes. In Linz-region in 109 of the 526 classes. In Wels, Catholic children are in a minority in almost half the classes (112 of the 231 classes).
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