Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is fond of presenting himself as a defender of Christian civilization. But critics say he’s waging a crusade against religious institutions — including the church of the pastor who baptized his two eldest children.
The Hungarian government, which has historically subsidized churches, in 2011 stripped about 300 mostly smaller churches and religious groups of their legal status — and, as a result, of access to state-endorsed funding programs and subsidies. Only the institutions on a government-approved list are now eligible for such schemes, including one that lets Hungarians divert 1 percent of their income taxes to a church recognized by the state. [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2014 that the law violates freedom of religion and should be amended, but the Hungarian government has done little to comply. To critics of the long-ruling prime minister, the pressure on the religious groups is part of an overall push to control and stymie independent institutions that pose a potential threat to his rule. [...]
The refugee crisis highlighted the divergence between the political positions of some of the recognized churches and the churches that had lost their status.
At the height of the flow of migrants into Hungary last year, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and the highest-ranking Catholic official in Hungary, said the Hungarian Catholic Church would not take in any refugees, arguing that providing shelter to them constitutes human trafficking.
Small unrecognized churches, meanwhile, took a leading role in both providing assistance and advocating on behalf of refugees. The Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship, for example, cooked 600-800 meals per day at its central Budapest compound and provided shelter for 80-200 refugees every night. Even now, with Hungary’s borders largely closed, the Fellowship provides temporary lodging to small numbers of refugees.
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