Being centrally located in the middle of Europe and having experienced
the rule of everyone from the Austrian Habsburgs to the Ottomans from Turkey,
Hungary is a country with a diverse heritage of religions. However,
Hungary is also a very secular country and Hungarians are rarely known
to be people who lean strongly towards any type of religion. In fact it
is believed that almost one third of people in Hungary do not follow any
religion or believe in God. Of those Hungarians who do profess to
belong to a religion, only a minority are regular church goers or
practitioners of their religion.
Hungary's new "Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion,
and on Churches, Religions and Religious Communities" was enacted July
12, 2011 and it recognizes only 14 religious groups.
Roman Catholic
The majority of the population are Roman catholic, starting from King Stephen,
who got the crown from the Pope. Major basilicas are the one in Esztergom:
And the one in Budapest:
Orthodox catholic
In the 2001 national census only 15,928 persons declared themselves
Eastern Orthodox (0,21% of the people with declared religious
affiliation and 0,15% of the whole population)
A nice example in Budapest, Petőfi tér:
Protestants
Followers of the Protestant religion in Hungary account for just over
20% of the population. Protestantism was first brought to Hungary during
the reformation period in the 15th and 16th centuries, although these
gains were largely diminished in the 17th century due to a Hapsburg
crackdown in the 17th century. The largest group of Protestants in
Hungary are the Calvinists who account for about 16% of the population
while Lutherans make up about 3-4%.
Budapest, Kálvin tér:
Jewish religion
Hungary has a long history of the Jewish religion within its borders
that spans back centuries, and has seen something of a rebirth in past
decade or so. The Jewish community in Budapest was largely decimated. Around the main synagogue there are many little hidden gems fro those who wants to visit them.
But the main and for everyone visitable, in Europe the biggest one is:
Muslim
Islam in Hungary has a long history that dates back to at least the 10th century, predating the Ottoman Empire. The influence of Muslims was especially pronounced in the 16th century during the time of Ottoman Hungary.
In February 27, 2012, Hungary’s parliament amended the country’s
controversial law on religious organizations to expand the list of
officially recognized the Hungarian Islamic Council. According to the
Magyarországi Muszlimok Egyháza ("Hungarian Muslim's Church") there are c. 32,000 Muslims (0.3%) in Hungary.
The oldest example is Gül Baba türbe and the newest is the mosque in Buda as well:
