Religion in Europe is...highly diverse and in need for explication

The European socio-cultural concept of religion is highly diverse. In my presentation, I will
focus on the situation in Austria and argue that present-day changes will challenge the
implicit concepts of religion up to a point where they will no longer be applicable in day-to-
day use. In Austrian, the implicit concept of religion is very much dominated by the
traditional ideal of the Roman-Catholic Church – with hierarchical institutional structures,
parochial day-to-day practices and more or less clearly defined sets of beliefs (Lehmann /
Reiss 2022; Zulehner 2020; Vocelka 2013). This becomes particularly obvious with regards to
the two forms of legal status religious organizations can apply for – the status of ‘Gesetzlich
anerkannte Kirche und Religionsgesellschaft‘, as well as the status of ‘Staatlich anerkannte
religiöse Bekenntnisgemeinschaft’. First, these two forms of legal status provide different
degrees of access to a subsidiary system of religious services. Second, they are confronted
with significant challenges.