Politics.hu, 13 February 2012

Parliament committee proposes 17 more denominations get church status
By MTI

Another 17 religious denominations are proposed to be granted church status under a motion approved by Parliament’s committee on human rights, minority and religious affairs on Friday.
Parliament is scheduled to amend the church law accordingly next week.

The motion was approved in a unanimous vote by all pro-government MPs while the opposition members of the committee stayed away from the vote, protesting against what they called an arbitrary procedure.
Hungary’s church law, which was approved last year, recognised 14 churches and enabled other religious denominations to apply for church status. Applications had to be submitted to the Ministry of Justice, which then passed them on to parliament for a decision.

The 17 religious communities now proposed for approval as a church are as follows: the United Methodist Church in Hungary, the Hungarian Pentecostal Church, the St. Margaret’s Anglican Episcopal Church, the Transylvanian Congregation, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Hungary, the Hungarian Islam Community, the Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarene), the Hungarian Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Free Church of the Salvation Army of Hungary, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Hungarian Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the following five Buddhist congregations: the Gate of Dharma Buddhist Church, the Buddhist Mission, the Buddhist Church Arya Maitreya Mandala of Hungary, the Karma Kagyu Buddhist Community of Hungary, the Chinese Chan Buddhist Church of Hungary and the Diamond Way Buddhist Foundation.

© Politics.hu 2012