Minute’s silence on Good Friday TV upheld

The one-minute’s silence on Good Friday observed on Austrian public service broadcasting does not encroach upon religious freedom, an Austrian court has ruled.

The silence marking Christ’s death on the Cross, which the Austrian Broadcasting Corp­oration ORF has been holding since the 1970s, does not contravene the state service’s requirement to remain neutral and objective, the Austrian Constitutional Court decided.

The court dismissed a complaint lodged by the Religion is a Private Matter initiative that argued the one-minute’s silence encroached on religious freedom. It was neither “indoctrination” nor “disproportionate”, as had been claimed, the court found.

The right of religious freedom guaranteed “protection of religious communities but not freedom from all confrontation with religious views”, the court observed.

ORF advertising rules are also linked to Christianity, with advertising forbidden on Good Friday, All Saints’ and Christmas Eve.