Freedom of Religion

Separation of Church and State

Freedom of religion is enshrined in Article 37 of the Constitution. The same article places the Roman Catholic Church under state protection as the national church. As a result, it receives preferential treatment and financial support from the state and the municipalities.

Since 1936, there has been a formal agreement between the Catholic Church and the State of Liechtenstein regarding religious education in public schools. It stipulates that the Church determines the content and teaching materials for the subject of religion.

It is only since 2003 in secondary schools and since 2019 in primary schools that the non-denominational religious education course “Ethics and Religion” has been offered as an alternative in public schools. Non-Catholic religious communities are defined as private associations. Upon application, they receive varying levels of state funding. This does not ensure equal treatment of religious communities.

Since 2022, the government has held an annual integration dialogue in which religious communities also participate. In its 2023 report, the Council of Europe’s Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) encourages the authorities to continue this initiative in the long term. Furthermore, since 2023, an annual interfaith roundtable has been held on the private initiative of the Gutenberg Educational Center and the VMR; in 2025, an official representative of the Archdiocese of Vaduz participated for the first time.

Religious Communities Act

As early as 2008 and 2011, there were concrete legislative proposals to redefine the relationship between the state and religious communities. Although a Religious Communities Act was passed by the Landtag in 2012, it never entered into force. In 2024, the government submitted a new draft to the Landtag. Its proposal was based on the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Covenant II), the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Reference was also made to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the 2018 report of the Council of Europe’s Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). While the bill does improve the status of religious communities other than the Roman Catholic Church, it does not lead to a separation of church and state or to consistent equal treatment.

The bill was considered in its first reading in May 2024. A second reading was postponed indefinitely by the State Parliament, as the Archdiocese of Vaduz has been under administrative leadership only since the archbishop’s resignation in 2023. The petition “Religious Communities Act Must Finally Take Effect” was considered by the Landtag in December 2024 and referred to the government for appropriate action, but without further effect. An initiative by the Free List calling for a clear separation of church and state was declared constitutional by the Landtag in May 2025 but rejected by a large majority. There have been no further developments in this regard since then.

Muslim Cemetery and Prayer Rooms

According to the latest census from 2020, there are approximately 2,300 Muslims living in Liechtenstein. This represents six percent of the population. Neither in Liechtenstein nor in the surrounding region is there a Muslim burial ground accessible to these individuals. Muslims who have lived in Liechtenstein for several generations must bury their relatives in other countries—usually their countries of origin—if they wish to have a burial in accordance with their religious traditions.

In 2018 and 2023, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) called on Liechtenstein to find a suitable burial site for the Muslim communities in Liechtenstein. After various efforts to establish a Muslim cemetery at the southern entrance to Nendeln failed last year, the project remains on hold. The Eschner municipal council, in particular, opposed the location due to concerns regarding nature conservation and land-use planning. No other locations are currently in sight.

 

zurück