B u d a p e s t – In Hungary, 32 churches and religious communities are now officially recognized; up until now the number was 14. In the parliament in Budapest, all the representatives from both ruling parties voted in favor of adding an additional 18 religious communities to the catalog of so-called “privileged” confessions. Based on the “church law”, which took effect at the beginning of the year, along with Adventists, Anglicans, Methodists, Coptic Christians and Pentecostals, Muslims, Mormons, Hindus, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and 5 Buddhist groups received official recognition. The status of 14 churches, including the Baptist church, which had already been legally recognized was affirmed. Recognition accords the churches tax-exempt status and permission for fundraising and pastoral work in prisons and hospitals. Opposition parties had boycotted the vote, accusing the government of being arbitrary in according recognition. The criteria for church status include, among other things, a history of at least 100 years of proven international activity, and at least 20 years of operation in Hungary. At the end of 2011, the government had tightened the Hungarian law on religion, leading to protests at home and abroad. Formerly, 370 groups had registered as churches.

Dr. Kálmán Mészáros (Budapest), president of the Hungarian Baptist Union, welcomes the tightening of the church law, as well as the addition of 17 new faith communities. As he told the EBPS, all religions in Hungary had been suppressed by communism. For this reason, after the fall of communism in 1989, “an extremely liberal church law” had been passed, under which any group with at least 100 members could “be registered as a church”, thus receiving tax benefits. “Many groups which had nothing whatsoever to do with faith, church or religion, used this law,” Mészáros recalled. It was “high time” to put an end to this abuse by passing a new church law.

As Mészáros further said, there has been no lessening of religious freedom in Hungary, in spite of the new law. “Communities which were formerly recognized as churches, but no longer are, may continue to hold worship services and pursue other religious activities.” They are registered as non-profit associations, said Mészáros. Such regulations also exist in other European countries. In France every church functions as an association. In England, only the Anglican Church is a state church; all other churches are associations. State churches also exist in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Malta and Greece. In Cypress, Poland, Italy and Portugal there is also a distinction between “official” and “unofficial” churches. The new law in Hungary is thus “not a Hungarian specialty”, according to Mészáros.

He acknowledged that through the new law, mistakes had been corrected. When the boundary between “church” and “association” was newly drawn, it might happen that some groups land on the “wrong” side. Such was the case in Hungary with the Methodists. Mészáros: “We are pleased that this unfortunate mistake was corrected in such a short period of time.” The Hungarian Baptist Union includes 368 churches with about 12,000 members.