The Hungary 2013 International Religious Freedom report provides an overview of Hungary’s religious demography, the status of government respect for religious freedom, government practices for providing legal recognition to religious groups, respect for religious freedom on the part of Hungarian society, and the US government’s policies and practices regarding its support for religious freedom in the country.

Hungary’s Religion Law of 2011

The report provides a detailed analysis of controversial legislation adopted in 2011, which selectively changed the legal registration of Hungary’s incorporated religious organizations from “recognized churches” to “associations”.

De-registered churches were not automatically awarded the new status of “associations”, as a result of which they no longer qualified for government funding. The 2011 religion law de-registered more than 350 religious groups and gave the Hungarian parliament authority to grant “recognition” to churches meeting certain criteria subject to approval by various parliamentary committees and a two-thirds vote in parliament.

Recognized versus non-recognized churches

Non-recognized churches do not qualify to receive the 1% income tax donation individuals may elect to donate to non-profit organizations which, in the case of “recognized churches”, is matched by government subsidies. Nor are they entitled to reimbursement for social welfare activities undertaken on behalf of the state such as operating homeless shelters or day shelters.

Recognized church officials qualify for income tax exemption. Furthermore, the use of public funding for religious activities by recognized churches is not subject to the Hungarian government state audit, while non-recognized organizations are monitored by the State Audit Office.

Non-recognized religious organizations do not have permission to conduct religious education in public schools or in institutes of higher education, and are not permitted to perform pastoral services for the military, prisons or hospitals.

Non-recognized religious organizations can be terminated at the initiative of a prosecutor if the court finds that the organization’s activity violates the constitution and orders its dissolution.

The report in the context of European norms

Shortly after being adopted in 2011, Hungary’s Religion Law was heavily criticized by numerous domestic and international human rights watchdogs, NGOs, think-tanks and foreign governments. Hungary’s Constitutional Court struck down the law on constitutional grounds — a decision the Fidesz-KDNP government sidestepped by using its two-thirds parliamentary majority to modify the Constitution.

In April 2014 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that the Hungarian law (which came into force in 2012) violates Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court found that the law is inconsistent with the state’s duty of neutrality in religious matters. It reasoned that religious groups which had to re-apply to parliament to obtain re-registration as churches were treated differently from incorporated churches as regards material benefits, without any objective grounds.

Despite the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights regarding Hungary’s religion legislation, the Hungarian government has been reluctant to settle the dispute legally and has made no attempt to compensate the de-registered churches for damages.

Source: The Budapest Beacon

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