As secretary of the Hungarian Atheist Society, I took part in a public hearing in the capital in October, where I asked the city leadership, among other things, why taxpayers were footing the bill for the more than 250 million forints it costs to light up churches and crosses in Budapest in a secular state. I added that this is particularly contradictory in light of the fact that the Hungarian government has so far supported churches with more than 1,000 billion forints, which would be more than enough to cover this cost, while the city council complains about a lack of funds, yet this budget item has doubled. Furthermore, the Catholic Church denies fundamental human rights, which is not only contrary to the tolerant worldview of the city administration, but also to the Basic Law, and therefore they are definitely not worthy of support.
The mayor’s response to this was simply that churches and crosses are beautiful and therefore should be illuminated at the expense of the municipality.
At the January general meeting, the FIDESZ-KDNP faction proposed that the Óbuda-Újlaki Sarlós Boldogasszony Parish Church receive decorative lighting at the expense of the capital, at a cost of approximately 70 million forints.
In the debate, Zsuzsanna Döme (MKKP) was the hero of secularism, explaining:
“Really, my only question is whether Viktor Orbán knows about this. Does our Christian-conservative government know that a church needs the capital’s help with things like this, say, paying its utility bills? – obviously I don’t mean the proposal related to regulation. I don’t think the government would begrudge any land transferred for valuable educational purposes – which the church can then sell in a few years’ time – for such purposes, given that this is a jubilee year, and I also fully understand that even
Alexandra Szentkirályi’s children are more afraid of going into an unlit church
than into an underpass.” (Minutes: Applause from the audience.)
In the end, the members of FIDESZ-KNDP and the Podmaniczky Movement, as well as Kriszta Baranyi, representative of MKKP, voted in favor, while the others abstained or did not vote. Thus, the proposal did not pass, and taxpayers saved 70 million forints. And if the church wants to light up its church, it will surely find the funds from its own pocket. We hope that the Hungarian Atheist Society’s objections to this type of subsidy, expressed in October, also played a role in the decision.
cover image: 24.hu
