Common Greeting with Reference to God Discouraged in Department of Health

Case information
Incident date
Country
Austria
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Societal Sphere
  • Governmental
  • Workplace
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Intolerance towards Religious Symbols
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Freedom of Religion

In the course of a debate on the health care reform in the National Assembly of Austria, the spokesman of physicians of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), Andreas Karlsböck criticised Health Minister Alois Stöger of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) because he had discouraged or even prohibited the use of the common German greeting “Grüß Gott” (a greeting which literally means “Greet God”) in the Department of Health.

Sources and links:
http://www.kleinezeitung.at/nachrichten/politik/3298919/nationalrat-verabschiedet-gesundheitsreform.story
http://www.tt.com/%C3%9Cberblick/Politik/6485309-42/emotionale-debatte-nationalrat-segnet-gesundheitsreform-ab.csp,
https://twitter.com/MartinGlier/status/327713933060370432
http://news.orf.at/stories/2178914/