Clever Geek Handbook
📜 ⬆️ ⬇️

International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Hungary

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) began its activities in Hungary in the late 1970s. [1] In 1989, the Hungarian Krishna Consciousness Society received official registration. [1] The Hungarian ISKCON launched an active missionary activity, the results of which were not long in coming: by 1993, more than half of the citizens of the Hungarian Republic learned about the existence of Hare Krishnas. [one]

History

Communist Sermon

The first Hare Krishna preachers arrived in Hungary in the late 1970s. [1] In the mid-1980s, a second wave of missionary activity began. Since 1987, a Krishnaite guru preacher, a Canadian of Hungarian origin, Sivarama Swami , began to regularly visit Hungary. [2] The first Hare Krishna community appeared in the country, the Vaisnava movement finally managed to take root on Hungarian soil. [one]

The official registration of ISKCON and the beginning of active missionary work (1989)

In 1989, the Hungarian ISKCON received official registration as a religious organization, the Society of Hungarian Krishna Consciousness Devotees. [1] An application for registration was then filed by 50 Hungarian ISKCON followers. [one]

Having received official status, the Hare Krishnas launched active missionary work, the results of which were not long in coming: in 1993, opinion polls showed that half of the Hungarian population knew about the Hare Krishnas and their activities. [1] As sociologist Juzha Horvath noted in 1995, [K 1] the reaction of the Hungarians to the emergence of Hare Krishnas was mixed: while one part of the Hungarian society accepted the Hare Krishnas with sympathy, the other with distrust and even hostility. [3] [1]

Religious Situation in Hungary in the 1990s

In April 1990, a law on religion was adopted in Hungary, which established the registration procedure for religious organizations, which in its essence was not much different from the registration procedure for political parties and public associations. [4] [5] The requirements for religious associations wishing to obtain legal status were purely formal (for example, to obtain registration it was enough to have 100 followers). [4] [5] The adoption of such a liberal law led to the legal recognition of many new religious associations of various kinds. Among them were such "churches" as the "Hungarian Witch Association", a group of "believers in UFOs ", as well as commercial projects and groups with an extremely dubious reputation. [four]

Both new and traditional religious associations were equal before the law, which, in particular, provided for all officially registered religious organizations the right to state funding for charity and educational activities. [6] The law (in particular the registration process it established) immediately became the object of criticism from representatives of the “traditional churches” who were outraged that they were in the same legal category as “sects”. [four]

Confrontation between ISKCON and the Hungarian Anti-Cult Movement

Geza Nemeth against ISKCON: Hungarian main anti-cultist fight against the Hare Krishnas (1991-1995)

The active missionary activity of the Hare Krishnas caused concern among representatives of the Western anti-cult movement that had penetrated into Hungary. [7] After the Hungarian ISKCON held large summer religious festivals on a grand scale in 1990-1992, [K 2] the pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church, Geza Nemeth, launched an active anti-Krishna campaign in the press. [1] Thanks to his efforts, anti-Krishna articles appeared in the print media of a wide range: both in pro-government and opposition publications, both in reputable and respected newspapers and magazines, and in the yellow press. [1] Like his American counter-cultist colleagues, Németh accused ISKCON of brainwashing and family destruction. Nemeth claimed that by joining ISKCON, the Hungarians lost their national identity, fell into slavery to the leaders of the "sect", became victims of deception, "psychological terror" and "aggressive psychotechnologies." [one]

The leadership of the Hungarian Reformed Church did not support Nemeth in his anti-sectarian activities: in 1992, the president of the church council said that Nemeth did not have the right to speak on behalf of the Church. [1] A month later, with the assistance of two Protestant pastors, Németh founded the organization "Group of Helping Friends", which became the "Hungarian version of the anti-cult movement ." [8] Nemeth and his supporters declared “disclosure of information” about the sects, “notification of law enforcement agencies”, and the creation of a government agency that would receive complaints about the activities of “ destructive sects ” as their main goals. [9] “Friends” also announced their intention to resolutely oppose “television and radio programs promoting these sects,” as well as “neutralize the sects, dangerous for national security,” in the life of Hungarian society. [9]

At the beginning of 1993, Németh proposed to the committee of representatives of 36 churches operating in Hungary “to distance themselves” from ISKCON and “other dangerous religious groups”. The committee, however, rejected this anti-cultist proposal. [9] At the same time, David Ibolla , a Hungarian politician from the center-right Christian Democratic Party “ Hungarian Democratic Forum ”, [K 3], the future Minister of Justice of Hungary, spoke out in support of the newly created association of Hungarian anti-cultists. [1] [K 4] In the same 1993, there was a discord in the ranks of “friends”: one of the three founding fathers of the organization, Baptist pastor Dejo Dobner, left its ranks. He explained his decision by saying that Geza Nemeth “did not fight against sectarian symptoms, but against sects, and never helped any of the parents [young people who fell into sects]”. [one]

In the summer of 1993, representatives of persecuted religious minorities retaliated by suing Nemeth for libel. [10] The court found Nemeth guilty, having ruled that in the article “The Crusade of the Present” published in the newspaper Mai nap , he “infringed on the plaintiff's rights with his false allegations”. [10] Nemeth filed an appeal, which was rejected by a higher court in early 1994. [9] A few months earlier, in September 1993, Németh organized a conference on the subject of sects. [10] He personally compiled a list of invitees (including only those who suit him) and selected topics for discussion. [10] When the famous Hungarian sociologist of religion, Juža Horvath, wished to address the conference, [K 5] she was denied this honor. [11] Hungarian Hare Krishnas did not ignore the venture of their main adversary, having arranged at the entrance to the premises in which the event took place a “three-day peaceful musical demonstration”. [eleven]

Geza Nemeth died in 1995. The journalist Andras Balint [K 6] in the obituary of Nemeth described him as “a wandering preacher ... undoubtedly acting with good intentions” and at one time supporting Transylvanian refugees and young drug addicts. [11] Istvan Kamarash , in turn, wrote in 1997:

 ... this pastor, who called for the unity of Christian churches, called Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi his role models. Why did he start the anti-cult campaign? Could he have done this without massive support? It is possible that after the change of political regime , he, like others, was disappointed in the many new values, standards and traditions that flooded the country with the advent of freedom. Often at the head of this [stream] were religious and spiritual movements. It is difficult for an ordinary person to distinguish between valuable and destructive, genuine from fake, to draw a line between those things that can be accepted in the heart, and those that can only be imposed on us. [eleven] 

Kamarash also expressed the opinion that after the fall of the communist regime, the Hungarians needed a new enemy to maintain their national identity. [12] Nemeth and his supporters declared the Western world to be their enemy, with its liberalism and “sects,” inexorably penetrating from West to East. [12] In their understanding, ISKCON and other "sects" "suppressed and weakened national values." [12]

Anti-cultist legislative initiatives and a campaign of protest against them (1993-1994)

Following Nemeth, the pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church Albert Tóth, who represented the Hungarian Democratic Forum in Parliament, came up with an anti-sectarian initiative. [9] He proposed that the parliamentary committee on human rights amend the law on religion to recognize ISKCON, Jehovah's Witnesses , the Church of Scientology, and the Unification Church (religious organizations that professed “destructive ideologies” in Thoth’s view) as “ destructive sects .” [9] [13] [14] The adoption of these amendments would deprive these religious organizations of their legal status, which, in turn, would lead to the cessation of state funding for their activities. [9] Indeed, according to Hungarian laws, all officially registered religious associations had the right to receive financial support from the state for their activities in the field of education and charity. [14] The political influence of the Hungarian anti-cultists turned out to be quite strong and the initiative of Albert Toth was supported by most Hungarian parliamentarians: on March 19, 1993, the parliament declared ISKCON, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church "destructive sects." [9] [13] Following the initiative of Albert Thoth, at the end of March of the same 1993, anti-cultists proposed new amendments to the law on religion, establishing two basic requirements for religious organizations wishing to obtain legal status: 10,000 Hungarian followers or activities on the territory of Hungary for at least 100 years. [9] [4] [6]

These anti-cultist initiatives have sparked a wave of protest both in Hungary and abroad. [9] In April 1993, the Hungarian Hare Krishnas and the ISKCON European Department of Public Relations launched an international protest campaign, in which, inter alia, a collection of signatures was passed against the adoption of the amendments. [9] [6] In a short time, 63,000 signatures of Hungarian citizens were collected. [9] In April, the Hare Krishnas presented the vice speaker of the parliament with a petition in support of 140 well-known public figures. [9] Following this, more than 50 politicians, scholars, and religious leaders from around the world sent protest notes to the prime minister and speakers of both houses of the Hungarian parliament. [6] The Hare Krishnas protest campaign was a success: the amendments were never considered by parliament. [K 7] [4] As the Hungarian lawyer Balazs Šanda noted, the introduction of these legislative initiatives led to a wide discussion in the Hungarian society on the status of religious organizations. [15]

In March 1994, the Hare Krishnas gained another victory: the Hungarian parliament voted to return ISKCON to the number of legal and law-abiding religious associations that were eligible for state funding. [11] The parliament not only removed the stigma of a destructive sect from ISKCON, but also expressed its recognition of the Hare Krishna religion, highlighting their merits in the field of charity. [11] At the same time, parliament decided to refuse financial support to the other 11 religious organizations, qualifying 3 of them as “destructive sects”. [eleven]

Changes in the system of state financing of religious organizations

Since 1997, a new system of state financing of officially registered religious associations began to operate in Hungary. Between 1997 and 2001, direct government funding was phased out. [K 8] [16] Under the new system, taxpayers have the right, at their option, to send 1% of the taxes paid in favor of any of the registered religious organizations. [16] According to the Hungarian lawyer Balazs Shanda, the new financing system proved to be more beneficial for new religious groups and less beneficial for small traditional religious associations. [sixteen]

In declarations following the results of 1997 (the first year of the new system) 478,181 Hungarian citizens took advantage of the opportunity to finance religious organizations. [16] In 1998, their number was slightly higher - 489,498, [K 9], or 10.25% of the total number of taxpayers. [16] According to Baland Shanda, the new system did not gain popularity mainly because the process of filling out and submitting the corresponding annex to the tax return was rather complicated. [16] Interestingly, the number of people who took the opportunity to send part of the money from their taxes in favor of a religion was approximately equal to the percentage of believers who regularly visited places of worship (about 10% of the economically active population of Hungary). [sixteen]

In 1997, Hungarian taxpayers supported a total of 59 religious organizations. [17] The confessional preferences of Hungarian citizens were as follows: 66.7% of taxpayers gave their money to the Catholic Church ; 19.1% - the Reformed Church ; 5.7% - Lutheran Church ; The fourth most popular denomination was the Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists. [16] [K 10] ISKCON was in 8th place - the Hare Krishnas agreed to support 1,158 Hungarian taxpayers. [18] [19] For comparison, five different Orthodox churches supported a total of 897 people, Scientologists - 830, five Buddhist religious organizations - 1902 people, Muslims received support from only 20 taxpayers. [18]

In the 1998 declarations, taxpayers financially supported 70 religious associations in total. [18] This time, the Hungarians turned out to be much more favorable to the Hare Krishnas: 5673 people agreed to direct part of their taxes to the followers of Krishna (1.16% of the total number of “religious” declarations) - almost 5 times more than the previous year. [18] The support of Buddhists and Muslims also increased markedly: 3990 declarations were filled out in favor of the former and 181 in favor of the latter. [18] Compared to the previous year, ISKCON moved from 8th to 5th place in terms of popularity among religious denominations of Hungary, even ahead of the "traditional" Jewish community, which received the support of 5114 taxpayers. [19] However, in subsequent years, ISKCON somewhat lost ground: in 1999, 5523 taxpayers supported the Hare Krishnas (6th place), 4432 (7th place) in 2000, and 5,094 in 2001 (7th place again). or 0.95%). [nineteen]

2011 New Religion Law

In 2011, the Hungarian ISKCON was again threatened with the loss of its official religious status. In July, the Hungarian parliament without much discussion approved a new law on religion, called the "Law on the Right to Freedom of Consciousness and Religion, on Churches, Religions, and Religious Communities." [20] According to this law, only 14 of the 362 religious organizations registered at that time received official recognition. [20] These were the traditional Christian churches in Hungary and the religious association of the Jews, while the Hare Krishnas, Buddhists, Muslims, Pentecostals, Adventists, Methodists, Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as organizations representing reformist Judaism , were left out. [20]

Human rights activists, as well as representatives of ISKCON and other religious minorities, regarded the adoption of the new law as an attempt to restrict religious freedom in the country. For example, the American human rights organization Institute of Religion and Public Policy called it “the most egregious example of the alarming trend of violation of human rights that has emerged in Hungary”. [20] Hungarian human rights defenders wrote an open letter criticizing the law. [20]

ISKCON Scientific Research in Hungary

As Balazs Shanda noted in 2004, it is difficult to find practically accurate and neutral information about ISKCON and other religious groups little known to the general public in Hungary. [21] The main sources are the religious organizations themselves, which provide information about themselves or other religious associations. [21] Such sources, Shanda argues, cannot be called neutral and reliable. [21]

Shanda notes that a breakthrough on this front was a sociological study of the Hungarian ISKCON, carried out in the 1990s by a sociologist, a Catholic by religion, Istvan Kamarash . [21] In this work, published as a monograph in 1998, Kamarash presented the sociography of the Hare Krishna movement in Hungary. [21] The work of Kamarash received flattering reviews not only from fellow scholars, but also from the Hare Krishnas themselves, who stated that before the publication of the book of Kamarash, "there was no publication in the world about ISKCON of such [high] quality." [21]

Krishnaites in the Hungarian press from 1991-1995

See also

  • Shivarama Swami

Notes

  1. ↑ In 1997, Istvan Kamarash described her as “the most famous Hungarian sociologist of religion, engaged in the study of new religious movements and cults.”
  2. ↑ Publicist Laszlo Bartus noted in the famous Hungarian liberal magazine Beszélő (article “Sects Persecuted by Sects” published on January 16, 1993) that the overly active Hare Krishna preaching campaign “played a huge role in the explosion of interest in the subject of sects.” In this regard, Bartus expressed the view that "small religious communities requiring public recognition must learn to respect the borders established by the [religious] majority." Bartus, January 16, 1993 , pp. 16-18
  3. ↑ The party that won the 1991 parliamentary elections. One of the three political parties in Hungary that call themselves Christian.
  4. ↑ David Ibolya served as Minister of Justice in 1998-2002, in the first government of Victor Orban .
  5. ↑ According to Gesa Nemeth, Juža Horváth took a “pro-Christian” position.
  6. ↑ Hungarian publicist specializing in religion and sociology.
  7. ↑ In 1998, a second attempt was made to make such amendments, which also was not successful.
  8. ↑ The law established a four-year transitional period during which the state was obliged to annually allocate money from the budget to those religious organizations that received less money from taxpayers than in the last year of the old system. That is, if during the first 4 years of the operation of the new system, a religious organization received less money than in 1996 (the last year of the operation of the old system), then the state was obliged to cover this difference.
  9. ↑ In the same source, another figure is given - 493 052.
  10. ↑ In Hungary, four faiths are considered traditional: the Hungarian Catholic Church , the Hungarian Reformed Church , the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hungary and Judaism. Baptists are not among the traditional denominations.
  1. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Kamarás, 1997 , p. 326.
  2. ↑ NEWSru.com, October 27, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Horváth, 1995 .
  4. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Schanda, 2004 , p. 283.
  5. ↑ 1 2 Jazwinski, 1999 , p. 291.
  6. ↑ 1 2 3 4 Jazwinski, 1999 , p. 292.
  7. ↑ Bartus, January 16, 1993 , pp. 16-18.
  8. ↑ Kamarás, 1997 , pp. 326-327.
  9. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Kamarás, 1997 , p. 327.
  10. ↑ 1 2 3 4 Kamarás, 1997 , pp. 327-328.
  11. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kamarás, 1997 , p. 328.
  12. ↑ 1 2 3 Kamarás, 1997 , p. 329.
  13. ↑ 1 2 Jazwinski, 1999 , pp. 291-292.
  14. ↑ 1 2 Richardson, Lykes, 2012 , p. 307.
  15. ↑ Schanda, 2004 , pp. 283-284.
  16. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Schanda, 2004 , p. 290
  17. ↑ Schanda, 2004 , pp. 290-291.
  18. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Schanda, 2004 , p. 291.
  19. ↑ 1 2 3 Schanda, 2004 , p. 292.
  20. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Bandow, December 7, 2011 .
  21. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Schanda, 2004 , p. 289.

Literature

  • Bandow, Doug. Hungary Threatens Religious Liberty // The Huffington Post . - December 7, 2011.
  • Bartus, Laszlo. A szektauldozo szektak // Beszélő. - January 16, 1993 .-- P. 16-18.
  • Fidesz submits new church bill; recognized religions must be at least 100 years old // Politics.hu. - December 23, 2011. Archived on September 24, 2016.
  • Froese, Paul; Steven Pfaff. Religious Oddities: Explaining the Divergent Religious Markets of Poland and East Germany // Church and Religion in Contemporary Europe: Results from Empirical and Comparative Research / Gert Pickel, Olaf Müller. - Wiesbaden: Springer , 2009 .-- P. 123-144. - 204 p. - ISBN 353191989X .
  • Gorondi, Pablo. Small churches in Hungary fear losing legal status // Associated Press . - December 13, 2011.
  • Horváth, Zsuzsa. Hitek és emberek / szerk. és a bevezető tanulmányt írta Csákó Mihály. - Budapest: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem Szociológiai-Szociálpolitikai Intézete, 1995. - 470 p. - ISBN 963-462-707-2 .
  • Hungarian Hare Krishna community setting a good example // Central-European Religious Freedom Institute. - December 15, 2011. Archived on August 20, 2013.
  • Hungary's top court strikes down new religion law // Associated Press . - December 19, 2011.
  • Jaźwiński, Przemysław. Introduction to the Legal Situation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the Countries of Central-East Europe // Church-state Relations in Central and Eastern Europe / Irena Borowik. - Kraków: NOMOS, 1999 .-- P. 284-304. - 456 p. - ISBN 83-85527-88-5 .
  • Kamarás, István . Devotees of Krishna in Hungary // New Religious Phenomena in Central and Eastern Europe / Irena Borowik, Grzegorz Babiński. - Kraków: NOMOS, 1997 .-- P. 325-340. - 392 p. - ISBN 83-85527-56-7 .
  • Kamarás, István . The Value System of Hungarian Krsna Devotees // ISKCON Communications Journal . - March 2001. - Vol. 8, No. 2 .
  • Kamarás, István . Conscience de Krishna: interprétation hongroise // Social Compass. - June 2000. - Vol. 47, No. 2 . - P. 221-239.
  • Kocsis, Nóra. Krishna in heroes square: devotees of Krishna and national identity in post-communist Hungary // Journal of Contemporary Religion . - October 2004. - Vol. 19, No. 3 . - P. 329-335.
  • Krishna-lila Dasi. Cows and Children Protest Outside the Hungarian Parliament // ISKCON News. - December 16, 2011. Archived on April 5, 2013.
  • Krishnas battle to keep land // The Budapest Times. - December 16, 2011. (inaccessible link)
  • Ramet, Sabrina P. Social Currents in Eastern Europe: The Sources and Meaning of the Great Transformation . - 2nd ed. - Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995 .-- xvi, 598 p. - ISBN 0822315483 .
  • Richardson, James T ; Valerie A. Lykes. Legal considerations regarding new religious movements in the 'New Europe' // Religion, Rights and Secular Society: European Perspectives / Peter Cumper, Tom Lewis. - Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012 .-- P. 293-322. - xi, 336 p. - ISBN 978-1-84980-367-0 .
  • Sajó, András. Reading the Invisible Constitution: Judicial Review in Hungary // Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. - 1995. - Vol. 15, No. 2 . - P. 253-267. (inaccessible link)
  • Schanda, Balázs. Freedom of Religion and Minority Religions in Hungary // Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe / Edited by James T. Richardson . - New York: Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, 2004 .-- P. 279-294. - xiv, 578 p. - ISBN 0-306-47887-0 .
  • Valpey, Kenneth R. Attending Kṛṣṇa's Image: Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Mūrti-Sevā as Devotional Truth . - London; New York: Routledge , 2006 .-- xiv, 225 p. - (Routledge Hindu Studies Series). - ISBN 0415383943 .
  • The spiritual leader of the Hungarian Hare Krishnas received a high state award // NEWSru.com . - October 27, 2009.

Links

  • krisna.hu - official website of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Hungary
  • Official website of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Hungary on the social network Facebook
Source - https://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Krishna_conscious_conscious_in_ Hungary_old_ = 99790963


More articles:

  • Colombian Football Championship 1967
  • Pawn, Jan
  • Sharon Brown
  • Zhiginovo
  • Belevichi (Smorgon district)
  • Anagnost Konstantin
  • The Karate Guard
  • Almalinsky district
  • Zhetysu District
  • Young Democrats

All articles

Clever Geek | 2019