The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1957-10-18
The Workers of Vienna:
75% Believe In Personal
God: 4O% In Life After Death
by Erik v. Kuehnelt-L eddihn

The Austrian Weekly for the Clergy" has publish
ed a very interesting article by the jesuit Father Albert
Kraus about the faith among Viennese workers.
The American reader going through these scraps
of statistics must bear in mind that the Viennese work.
ers are famous for being politically extremely left and
what prevented them primarily from gong communist
was the terrible ordeal of the Russian liberation In
the twenties and early thirties the Austrian Socialist Far
ty embarked on a violently anti-Catholic and anti
religious propaganda which left its traces among those
now between the ages of 45 and 30.
Interesting is Father Kraus' preliminary remark ac-
cording to which. he was, on his visits, received every
where with the greatest polteness, interest, and friendli-
ness.
He had thought of handing over part of his onerous
work to a layman, a very discreet iormer s s. p.nca.
were treated as mere "nosiness". The Roman collar, on
the other hand, UNEXPECTEDLY worked wonders.
Only men were Intercepted. The replies OF women
would have given a somewhat more positive picture. AL
workers were in the Is to so age group.
Of ali those questioned IS percent believed in a per:
sonal God, IA percent were not sure, and II percent
declared themselves atheists. A very different picture
was received from the answers to the questions: DO you
believe in an ~afterlife?"
does not mark an end, IS percent considered this an
open question, Is percent maintained that death is final
in every respect. Here, as in other questions, the young
est group is the most positive, lie. the workers between
the ages of Is and a.; SIS percent of them insist on sur
vival after death. This is the result of religious instruc-
ton in Sabotage 8 to land the now lacking anti
religious propaganda afterwards. In the As to 80 age
group only Is percent believe in an afterlife.
Father Kraus asks the very pertinent question: why
the much higher percentage OF DeleVerS IN a personal
God than believers in an afterlife? He points out the
fact that not to believe in the existence of a personal
God almost amounts to an intellectual perverSity where
as Revelation, not philosophy, is our main source OF
knowledge about the Beyond. Only recently we have
seen philosophers and scientists tackling this problemJ
Moreover, Father Kraus points out, children have'a
very specific and often rather naive concept of life here
after. This lasts through their compulsory school age
and then fails to adapt itself to a more mature concept.
AS a matter of fact there is quite a number Of
workers who pray and even 60 to Mass = and who still
are not convinced about the Immortality of the SOUL
land the resurrection of the flesh.
Many of them were surprised when Father Kraus
pointed out that the belief in a personal God, who is in-
finitely good, necessitates the acceptance of a beyond.
Otherwise how could there be justice, as it is only too
rible sufferings until they die and many scoundrels
prosper without apparently receiving retribution. Qn my
own opinion a shallow literature and imported movies
with happy ends and justice administered right on this
earth do some real damage0
The divinity of Christ is accepted by Sc percent
lover 20 percent in the youngest age group) OF those
asked about their position toward the Church only IL
percent manifest a truly negative attitude, rejecting the
Church outright.
Questioned whether there is anything about the
Church they went to criticize, a bare majority brought
forth any concrete criticisms.
The general impression Father KrauS gathered
from this inquiry was that, with concerted efforts, it
would not be too difficult to get large masses of workers
into the Church. The time seems to be %propitious.
One of our greatest difficulties in Europe is the
fact that the vast majority of Europeans cease to go to
school at the age of IA. We have religious instruction
in our public Schols but this instruction ends abruptly
when adolescence sets in.
Therefore our children, in their vast majority, en-
ter life with an incomplete religious education. And
their child-like religious concepts, needless to say, cam
not easily stand the stress and strains of a more mature
age. The logical contradictions in their beliefs show this
only too well.