Vienna, Austria - Austria's president on Tuesday said be believed a society that adheres to its Christian roots was superior to others, a newspaper reported.
"I profess to human rights and the principle of humanism," Heinz Fischer told the newspaper Die Presse in an interview for Wednesday editions. "I respect the Christian roots of European society and believe that a society that adheres to that is superior to others." A copy of the interview was available on the newspaper's Web site late Tuesday.
Fischer was responding to a question about "true values" in a consumer-oriented society.
In the interview, Fischer also said he didn't want to consider other religions as the concept of the enemy.
"Use of violence, breaking of laws, intolerance: Those are our enemies, not faith or a particular religion," Fischer was quoted as saying.
Fischer also said he rejected "every form of radicalism."
Austrian authorities last week arrested three alleged al-Qaida sympathizers over a video that surfaced in March threatening to attack Germany and Austria unless the two nations withdrew their troops from Afghanistan. The incident has unleashed a debate about integration of foreigners and multiculturalism in Austrian society.