The Austrian Science Fund FWF reports on our project

How Catholics and Evangelicals navigate gender issues: Gender issues are not only a topic of political discourse, but also the subject of debate in religious groups. How do the Roman Catholic Church and Evangelical denominations respond to state-imposed regulations on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, women in leadership positions or same-sex marriage? For the first time, an empirical study has been carried out to determine how similar the positions of these divergent groups are on these issues.

Gender issues are the new hot-button topic for religious groups. Austrian legislation on issues such as gender policy and equality, abortion or same-sex marriage is often viewed critically not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in Austria‘s growing number of evangelical groups. Ultimately faith forms the basis for both communities for arguing and legitimizing their stances, whether in favor or in opposition. Preparations are underway at the Universities of Graz and Innsbruck to carry out the first comprehensive empirical study of Roman Catholic and Evangelical groups in Austria against the backdrop of these tensions between politics and religion. With the support of the Austrian Science Fund FWF, research is being conducted into how the religious communities differ or even agree on how they negotiate gender issues.

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From July 4 to 5, the conference "(De)Constructing Gender Politics in Contemporary Christian Discourse" took place at the Institute for Religious Studies.