For civic education, religion is an area of responsibility that examines the framework conditions for cultural-religious practice and conflict resolution arising from social developments and interests. The separation of religion and state in Europe and aspects of secularization, for example in Protestant fundamentalism in the USA and in the influence of political Islam on institutions, must be taken into account.The aim is therefore to provide an overview of the relationship between religion and politics in Austria and Europe, freedom of religion as a fundamental right and freedom and its limits to other fundamental rights such as freedom of opinion and freedom of the press and the right to self-determination in a democracy. The specialist literature and results of the 2019 annual conference of the "Interessensgemeinschaft Politische Bildung/ IGPB" should be noted. For the author, the topic of "basic knowledge" seems essential against the background of an increasing lack of religious knowledge.