According to György Hölvényi, the “religious vacuum” that he believes has developed in Western Europe must be resolved “in an institutional way”. On the closing day of the Interreligious Conference in Debrecen, the KDNP MEP expressed his views on the lack of religious freedom in Europe.
György Hölvényi at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 16 July 2019.
Photo: Koszticsák Szilárd / MTI / MTVA
Hölvényi acknowledged that there was no religious and Christian persecution in Europe, but he said there was “religious discrimination.” Hölvényi did not explain what he meant, but perhaps not on the Hungarian legal regulation, on the basis of which the state only recognizes the ecclesiastical status of certain denominations.
At the conference, Hölvényi also suggested that the EU should intervene “institutionally” against what he called “religious indifference”, but did not elaborate on what he meant. In Europe, since the Enlightenment, the basic premise has been the separation of state and church and the ideological neutrality of the state, which is the basis for citizens of any denomination or non-denomination to feel equal.
Hölvényi also spoke of the fact that religion is a formative force in society in Central and Eastern Europe. In Hungary, according to the 2011 census, only 55.6% of the population declared themselves to belong to any denomination (.pdf). (Via MTI)
– .
