The Reformed Church in Austria (Evangelical Church of the Helvetic Confession) is a Christian denomination in Austria. The origin of the church can traced to the Deed of tolerance in 1781 and in 1861. In the 16th century, two thirds of the Austrian population was Evangelical. The Counter-Reformation changed this, and evangelical worship was not permitted or restricted until the toleration act. Some Protestants were able to survive this decades in the valleys of the mountains of Carinthia and Upper Austria. In 1861 full freedom of Protestant worship and public practice were granted.