Hungary - Religion
The country has an area of 35,919 square miles and a population of approximately 10 million. Data on religious affiliation is regarded as sensitive information and may not be officially recorded. However, the 2001 national census, the latest survey available, included an optional question on religious affiliation, to which 90 percent of the population responded. According to the replies, the population is 55 percent Roman Catholic, 15 percent Hungarian Reformed, 3 percent Lutheran, and less than 1 percent Jewish. These four groups are the country's "historic" religions. Groups that constitute less than 5 percent of the population include Greek Catholics, the Congregation of Faith, five Orthodox Christian religious groups, a broad range of other Christian groups, seven Buddhist groups, and three Muslim communities. Data protection regulations impeded the collection of official statistics on popular participation in religious life.
The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally enforced these protections. The constitution provides for the free choice or acceptance of a religion or other conscientious convictions, the freedom to practice or abstain from practicing, and the right to exercise or teach one's religion and beliefs in public or in private, either individually or with others, through religious acts and ceremonies or in other ways. The constitution separates church and state. The state should remain neutral in matters concerning ideology; however, the state has a duty to ensure the possibility of freely forming personal convictions. Citizens also have the right to sue the government for constitutional violations of religious freedom.
The criminal code has a provision on the "Violation of the Freedom of Conscience and Religion," which states that whoever restricts another person by violence or threats, or prevents another person from freely exercising his religion by violence or by threats, commits a crime, which is punishable by up to three years' imprisonment. If a person abuses someone because of his or her affiliation with a religious group, the crime is punishable by five years' imprisonment.
There is no state religion, and under the law, every registered religious group is entitled to the same rights. The four "historic" religious groups (Roman Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran, and Jewish) receive 93 percent of state financial support provided to religious groups. All registered religious groups also receive advantageous tax treatment.
Relations between the state and the Roman Catholic Church are regulated by the 1990, 1994, and 1997 Vatican treaties. These agreements also served as a framework for regulating state relations with other religious groups.
Citizens may donate 1 percent of their income tax to the religious group of their choice and receive a tax deduction. This provision applies to every legally registered religious group. In addition to taxpayer contributions, the government allocated public funds to registered religious groups. Under the present regulation, the state commits to match the amount of the individual taxpayer contributions up to a ceiling of 0.5 percent of the total income tax revenue. The state funding of churches significantly decreased in 2010 to three billion forints ($14 million) from 9.8 billion forints ($47 million) in 2009.
Registered religious groups have the right to provide religious education in public schools if requested by the students or parents. Religious instruction was not part of the curriculum in public schools, but the government permitted primary and secondary school students to enroll in extracurricular religious education classes. Optional religious instruction was usually held after the normal school day and taught in school facilities by representatives of various religious groups. While the government made provisions for minority religious groups to engage in religious education in public schools, the four historic groups provided the majority of after-hours religious instruction. Private schools were not obligated to ensure religious education.
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