Official: Most Hungarians back govt’s humanitarian policy

Two-thirds of Hungarians support the government’s humanitarian policy, Tristan Azbej, the state secretary in charge of aiding persecuted Christians, said on Friday, citing a fresh survey from the Nézőpont Institute.

The survey’s findings confirm that Hungarians are generous and sympathise with Christians living in far-away countries, Azbej, who is also in charge of the government’s Hungary Helps humanitarian aid programme, told public broadcaster M1.

Altogether 65 percent of the survey’s respondents said the persecution of Christians was a problem.

The majority agreed that Hungary should provide significant aid to those around the world facing religious persecution.

Hungary was the first country in the world to address the aiding of persecuted Christian communities at government level and to acknowledge that Christianity “is the most persecuted religion in the world today”, the state secretary said.

“This truth had been denied by the Western world and kept from international organisations, too,” Azbej said.

“Since it’s become clear that the lives of persecuted Christians don’t matter to liberal politicians as much as the lives of others, the Hungarian government considers it a very important diplomatic task to get other countries to follow its example,” he added.

So far, Hungary has convinced the United States to join the cause and launch its own programme aimed at helping persecuted Christians in cooperation with Hungary, he said. It has also inspired Slovakia’s parliament to adopt a resolution acknowledging the atrocities committed against persecuted Christians and calling on the government to launch an aid scheme.

Source: MTI