A study revealed a dire attitude of Muslims towards the Austrian constitutional state. Politicians and the mainstream are sharply critical – but not of the results, but of the methods of the survey.
The survey, conducted by the University of Vienna under project leader Endnan Aslan, found, for example, that 38 percent of Muslims do not want to obey Austrian laws if they contradict the Quran. Accordingly, this group could also be called objectors to the state. But what do politics and the media do? They do not talk about the frightening contents of this study, but rather about the fact that the “Muslims Study” is controversial.
ÖVP Education Minister Martin Polaschek immediately distanced himself from this survey via the Austrian press agency APA – he rejected the methods of this study, said Polaschek, who thus showed solidarity with the Muslim Youth Austria (MJÖ) and the anti-racism NGO ZARA. According to an APA report, both organisations criticised the “tendentious questions” and the fact that Muslim pupils of the 9th grade were taken out of regular classes for the survey.
For example, they were asked whether Muslims should only be friends with their own kind and whether women should be punished for immoral behaviour. The students were also asked to decide who would go to hell and to assess whether men were weaklings if they did not use violence. “I am disturbed by the sight of disabled people” is another statement that should be assessed. Another: “When women wear miniskirts or revealing clothes in public, they signal sexual willingness.”
However, ÖVP Education Minister Martin Polaschek should be less concerned about the survey methods of the University of Vienna, but rather about what comes to light in studies. As reported, only yesterday, Wednesday, a study presented in Linz on “mosque teaching in Upper Austria” caused sheer consternation. Because according to the teaching materials used in mosques in Upper Austria, only Islam is the only true religion. Other religions are not valid. Moreover, it is taught that Muslim children should only have Muslim friends and that believers who question the contents of the Quran will face consequences. Moreover, it is never explained why girls have to wear a headscarf at all.
With this study, one could come to the conclusion, said Upper Austria’s Deputy Governor Manfred Haimbuchner of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), that integration is apparently undesirable and that integration is actively prevented by mosque lessons. Haimbuchner said literally:
We stand for the practice of religion within the framework of religious freedom.
However, if an ideology is spread under the guise of religious freedom that is not compatible with the values of Austrian society, the state must take action.