The most controversial Hungarian story in recent memory includes the resignation of Hungary’s President and a former Minister of Justice, a presidential pardon for an accomplice in a pedophilia crime, and, as it turns out, the leader of the Hungarian Reformed Church. It recently came to light that in 2022 Katalin Novák pardoned a man, who was convicted of coercion while aiding a pedophile in covering up his crimes.
The Church in Poland was, is, and will be. Meanwhile, political parties exist, disappear, and new ones emerge. This is what it looks like in Poland, where politicians of all ideological backgrounds are much more afraid of their parish priest than of their voters.
The political platform of the Greek New Right, which has embedded authoritarian attitudes cultivating an anti-liberal sub-culture to the party’s voters, is in accordance with several European conservative movements like in Hungary, Austria, or Czechia.
Even though the victory of Zuzana Čaputová in the presidential elections in Slovakia is undeniably a positive development for the Central European region, it should not be perceived as a new macro trend.
I’m truly rooting for the bill on separating the church from the state, which was announced by Polish Initiative headed by Barbara Nowacka on Epiphany. Of course, let’s not kid ourselves that such an initiative has any chance of succeeding in the current Polish Parliament.
Viktor Orbán gave his traditional annual speech, underling the need to strengthen Christianity, building Christian democracy in Hungary, while fighting liberalism. Christian Democrats surely cringe upon hearing this line of thought, leaving us all to wonder what an illiberal Christian democracy ought to look like.
In Poland, it is not usually those who stop going to church that loose their true faith in God, the Gospel, and the fundamental principles of a righteous Christian life. In Poland, the faith loose those who still go to church and even start clearly dominating in their Christian communities. These are the ones who have gotten their values confused and lost touch with the true Christianity. They befoul the faith with their hostility and…
Poland cannot allow to have its law go downhill nor to have sect-like religious behaviors promoted. The former puts paid to the accomplishments of the Polish Round Table Talks of 1989. The latter, on the other hand, disgraces the sheer idea of religion.
Just a single year has passed since the introduction of the infamous shop closure law in Hungary, but the Fidesz-led right-wing government had already withdrew the regulation that forbade most retail outlets to open and serve customers on Sundays.
