Hungary has drawn criticism for favoring Christian over Muslim refugees from Syria and Iraq.
This week, Hungary, which has during the past year come under pressure for its handling of Europe’s mass migration crisis, has become the first government to open an office specifically to address the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Europe.
“Today, Christianity has become the most persecuted religion, where out of five people killed [for] religious reasons, four of them are Christians,” Catholic News Agency (CNA) quoted Hungary’s Minister for Human Resources, Zoltan Balog, as saying. “In 81 countries around the world, Christians are persecuted, and 200 million Christians live in areas where they are discriminated against. Millions of Christian lives are threatened by followers of radical religious ideologies.”
[Editor’s Note: Canada’s attempt at an office of international religious freedom, modeled on the American version, shut down after only three years.]
The move sets a precedent on the international stage. It comes after Hungary’s right-wing prime minister, Victor Orban, drew criticism in the EU by saying Europe should focus on helping Christians before helping millions of Muslims coming into Europe.
“If we really want to help, we should help where the real problem is. … We should first help the Christian people before Islamic people,” Orban said.
Orban’s government has campaigned against an EU plan to spread some of the burden of the influx of migrants and refugees by requiring member states to accept quotas. Orban has called for a referendum on October 2 at which voters are expected to back the government and reject any future quotas.
He said that Europe is divided between an “EU elite” and those, like him, who want …
