VIENNA, AUSTRIA — A controversial legal reform on Islam in Austria could become a beacon of hope in Europe as it rushes to assimilate its growing Muslim population in an age of insecurity and Islamophobia.
Austrian lawmakers say their aim is to create a democratic, self-sufficient Islam free of radical influence from abroad, thus defusing populist fears about the faith and its minority of extremist followers. To that end, the reform fortifies the legal rights of Muslims, while also banning foreign funding for mosques in an attempt to create what Austria’s foreign minister Sebastian Kurz has dubbed “Islam of the Austrian kind.”
These are the same goals shared broadly across Europe, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. But Austria’s fast-track approach – coming after Islamist extremist attacks in France and Denmark and amid continued fear of returning European jihadists – is also troubling. While it gives Muslims new protections, such as mandating a right to Islamic pastoral care in hospitals and the military, it places limits on the faith in a way that Muslim leaders says is counterproductive at best, and deeply discriminatory at worst.
At least two faith-based groups have vowed to challenge it in court. For its part, Austria’s far-right Freedom Party criticizes the law as not going far enough. And, in a recent Austrian newspaper poll, more than half of respondents said they feared the radicalization of Muslims here. » | Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer | Friday, March 20, 2015
