The constitution is not an ideology

The board of the Kulturhof Villach welcomes the detailed and comprehensible reasoned decision of the Constitutional Court to lift the Carinthian ban on events on Good Friday and to also criticize bans on events on other days.

The decision of the Constitutional Court once again confirms the importance of the fundamental right of cultural freedom. The reactions of politicians show that the people involved do not understand the knowledge or do not want to understand it for ideological reasons. It is precisely they who, under state law, allow gambling and peep shows to be permitted on these days, but concerts are not, as the Constitutional Court has also complained.
Likewise, the parties that are now shouting loudest have abolished Good Friday as a public holiday.

The Kulturhof Villach is surprised and disappointed by the reactionary statements from politicians, as the importance of artistic freedom, which, like religious freedom, has constitutional status, is clearly being disregarded.
To attribute an ideologically motivated decision to the Constitutional Court shows that some political representatives do not know the constitution to which they were sworn or do not want to accept it. We will continue to fight for artistic freedom and the reactions of politicians show how important this still is in Carinthia in 2024.

We expect from the state governor and cultural advisor Peter Kaiser – with whom we wanted to talk about the ban on events, but received no reaction – a very clear and unambiguous commitment to the freedom of art and a general position against bans that limit people’s freedom based on restrict a religious justification.

We expect all parties not to resort to populist provocation and not to try with all their might to impose their world views in favor of a plural society.

We want to make it unmistakably clear that we have not opposed religions, ridiculed beliefs or disturbed people in their religious practice, and we do not intend to do so. Our concern is in no way directed against churches, personal faith and religious freedom, but rather for the freedom for everyone to shape their lives according to their own views.