Hungarian church wins case against government

The European Court of Human Rights has awarded $3.3 million in damages to a Hungarian Methodist church that lost its recognized status in 2012. The Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship was one of hundreds of churches in the country to have its official status and tax advantages revoked by a law that transferred the right to register churches from courts to parliament. Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the law helped weed out “business churches” hiding behind fake religious fronts. As a result, the number of official churches in Hungary fell from around 370 to just 32. The judgment will compensate the church for lost subsidies, grants, and other revenue, but does not reinstate its official status.