The “Atheist Religious Society in Austria” (abbreviation: ARG) is a project/community that was founded by Wilfried Apfalter in 2007. Currently, the Atheist Religious Society has not yet acquired legal personality. We will file our application for the granting of the legal personality as the “Atheist Religious Society in Austria” in accordance with the Austrian Federal Law on the Legal Status of Religious Denominational Communities (BGBl. I 1998/19 as amended in the currently effective version) hopefully soon at the Office for Religious Affairs.
In order to prepare the Atheist Religious Society best for the coming official registration procedure and for the future status of a state-registered religious denominational community, some fundamental renewals are in progress. Among other things we have set ourselves the goal to make it easier for all members to contribute their services to our movement and its activities.
For that reason, this new online presence (https://atheistisch.at) including a forum for our members has been set up. We furthermore have revised the Statutes fundamentally – among other things (and based on very concrete experiences), former special privileges have been eliminated.
Presidium
The Presidium is, according to the Statutes, the highest and currently the sole decision making body of the Atheist Religious Society in Austria. It is currently (since 27 May 2017) made up of the following persons:
• MMag. Wilfried Apfalter BA BA
• Mag. Nikolaus Bösch
• Dipl.-Ing. Martin Perz
• Lukas Kudelka (currently as an associated member of the Presidium according to § 7 section 8 und § 8 section 9 of our Statutes)
According to § 4 section 2 of the Statutes every member of our ARG has the right to submit proposals and suggestions to the Presidium.
If you have ideas or suggestions which you would like to be implemented in the Atheist Religious Society, please get in touch with the Presidium, either via our Member Forum or via e-mail (praesidium@atheistisch.at, or office@atheistisch.at).
It is our goal to add, with growing (ARG-) membership numbers, additional members of the Presidium.
If you are interested to cooperate with the Presidium and to actively help co-shape our movement, please contact us via the forum or via e-mail.
This call in particular applies to the female members of the Atheist Religious Society: The purely male line-up that currently exists within the Presidium is a state which we do not intend at all and we certainly would like to change it. We therefore also explicitly invite dedicated women to contribute their services in joining the Presidium.
Regional Contact-Persons
In the long term, it is our aim to build up a network, spatially as inclusive and comprehensive as possible, of Regional Contact-Persons and Regional Contact Points throughout Austria. Currently we can refer to the following Regional Contact Persons in the following provinces of Austria:
- Vienna (wien@atheistisch.at):
- MMag. Wilfried Apfalter, BA BA, Vienna (Mariahilf)
- Lukas Kudelka, greater area of Vienna & Lower Austria
- Thomas Michael Wanka, Vienna (Josefstadt)
- Niki Herl, Vienna (Simmering)
- Roswitha Feigl, Vienna (Donaustadt)
- Lower Austria (niederoesterreich@atheistisch.at):
- Lukas Kudelka, greater area of Vienna & Lower Austria
- Tyrol (tirol@atheistisch.at):
- Wolfgang Ebner, Innsbruck
- Styria (steiermark@atheistisch.at):
- Mag. Nikolaus Bösch-Weiss, St. Stefan im Rosental (Bezirk Südoststeiermark)
- Dipl.-Ing. Martin Perz, Seiersberg-Pirka (Bezirk Graz-Umgebung)
The building-up of an Austria-wide network takes, of course, time and particularly needs the joining of active and dedicated members.
If you want to spring into action for the Atheist Religious Society in your region, we will support you und are happy to provide you with information and suggestions. To this end, please simply contact the Presidium (praesidium@atheistisch.at, or office@atheistisch.at).
Supporting association
For financial support of activities of the Atheist Religious Society in Austria (ARG) we have founded a support association with the name “Pro ARG – Förderverein für die (geplante) Atheistische Religionsgesellschaft in Österreich (ARG)” (Pro ARG – Support Association for the (planned) Atheist Religious Society in Austria (ARG)) (ZVR*-number: 357478224); our support association can be contacted via e-mail address pro-arg@atheistisch.at.
Donations of any amount of € 1 or more are very welcome to the account of our support association (IBAN: AT93 6000 0104 1028 2335; BIC: BAWAATWW). Thank you for your donation!
*Zentrales Vereinsregister (Austrian Central Register of Associations)