2014. április 24., csütörtök

Religious traveling in Hungary

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: