Islám jako součást vyučování na německých a rakouských státních školách
| Title in English | Islam as Part of Education at Public Schools in Germany and Austria |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Pantheon. Religionistické studie. |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | Islam; Germany; Austria; Public Schools; Education |
| Description | German practice is to provide denominational religious instruction in schools. Instruction is to be provided by religious communities under government supervision. By law, any community with a sufficient number of students may take part in the program. In various federal states, religious instruction has been offered to children of the Islamic faith on a voluntary basis. Nevertheless, it has been extremely difficult for Muslims to establish religious instruction due to regional governments failing to recognize Islam as a religious community, as there is no consensus organization. However, over the last few years some federal states have reached agreements with various Islamic groups concerning instruction. Although religious education at state schools is a constitutional right in Germany, it has been argued in public debate that these guarantees only apply to Christian religions, or to the religions traditionally present within Western Europe, thus excluding Islam. Fearing that students who are not involved in state-supervised religious courses may be exposed to extremism in unsupervised Quran classes, there has been some impetus for authorities to take action by initiating Islamic religious lessons at public schools. In modern history, immigration to the Austria, especially from Turkey and Eastern European countries, increased after the 1878 Berlin conference, which assimilated Islamic populations into the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and the new arrivals were welcomed by the authorities, which gave them a maximum of religious freedom. After the Second World War, new waves of Muslim immigrants arrived in Austria. First, laborers helped to reconstruct the country. During the 1970s then, immigration increased as a result of the economic boom. Since in Austria the religious education at public schools is a right of recognized churches and religious communities, also the Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich (IGGIÖ) makes use of this right, and established an Islamic instruction. The government provides funding for instruction in all state-recognized religions at public schools, and instruction in Islam has been offered at public schools since 1983. |