Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Magyar Keresztény Mennonita Egyház and Others v. Hungary (application nos. 70945/11, 23611/12, 26998/12, 41150/12, 41155/12, 41463/12, 41553/12, 54977/12 and 56581/12), which is not final, the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority, that there had been: a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) read in the light of Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Den Rest des Beitrags lesen »

The applicants are various religious communities, some of their ministers and some of their members. Prior to the adoption of a new Church Act, which entered into force in January 2012, the religious communities were registered as churches in Hungary and received State funding. Under the new law only a number of recognised churches continued to receive funding. All other religious communities, including the applicants, lost their status as churches but were free to continue their religious activities as associations. Following a decision of the Constitutional Court, which found certain provisions of the new Church Act unconstitutional, religious communities such as the applicants could continue to function and to refer to themselves as churches. However, the law continued to apply in so far as it required the communities to apply to Parliament to be registered as incorporated churches if they wished to regain access to the monetary and fiscal advantages they had previously enjoyed. Den Rest des Beitrags lesen »