The Faith Church (Hit Gyülekezete), a Budapest-based Pentecostal mega-church, which is said to have a congregation of over 30,000, endorsed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this past Sunday. Specifically, the congregation’s leader, Sándor Németh, warned his followers during the Sunday service that a vote for the opposition on 8 April is a vote for allowing into Hungary 10,000 Muslims a year. Taking his rhetoric up a notch, Mr. Németh suggested that a victory by the opposition parties and the subsequent arrival of scores of Muslims could lead to the demise of Christianity in Hungary.
Mr. Németh introduced party politics into his Sunday service while reading messages that had arrived to him–some of the senders were upset by his community’s close friendship with the Orbán government. Many of our readers will know, that prior to 2010, the Hit Gyülekezete was widely seen as being associated with liberal politicians and parties in Hungary, particularly the now defunct Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ). In the early nineties, Faith Church members actively campaigned for SZDSZ politicians, collecting nomination forms for the party ahead of elections. The weekly political magazine Hetek and ATV are both generally liberal media ventures affiliated with the Hit Gyülekezete.
It was the 444.hu website that reported on the overt endorsement of Fidesz by Mr. Németh at this past Sunday’s service. One critic expressed his displeasure with the fact that a large number of Faith Church members marched with the most hardline Fidesz supporters during the so-called Peace March (Békemenet) on 15 March. “What are you doing amongst the lowest of the fellow travellers of the national thief-dictator? You will suffer defeat alongside them and you too will have to flee the country when this happens…” Mr. Németh responded by pointing out that one must not vote for a party that will force people to flee the country after the election–though he did not specify which party or mainstream politician was actually advocating for this. (No party has ever said such a thing.) Moreover, Mr. Németh made no mention of Viktor Orbán’s threat against the opposition on 15 March.
Mr. Németh told his congregation that he “perused” the other candidates for prime minister and ultimately found that Mr. Orbán was the only one qualified for the job. According to his assessment, Ferenc Gyurcsány was already given a chance, Gergely Karácsony is still “untested” and inexperienced, while Gábor Vona is like “Odysseus lost at sea…”
The Faith Church leader is also not especially concerned by reports of systemic corruption in Fidesz, suggesting instead that these problems are “fixable.” In contrast, he is much more concerned about the possibility that gay marriage and the acceptance of refugees might both become the law of the land–and if this were to happen, there is no going back. Mr. Németh told his followers that the opposition parties would surely “capitulate” to Brussels on the issue of refugees and migrants.
Repeating Prime Minister Orbán’s main campaign message, Mr. Németh noted that the fate of Hungary was at stake.
The Amerikai Népszava is edited by László Bartus, who knows perhaps more about Mr. Németh and his church than any other journalist. Mr. Bartus argues that Mr. Németh has managed to become close to every political party when they were in power. He also warned that Mr. Németh appears to be suggesting that Hungary may, in the future, become the next Great Britain and could leave the European Union. This, of course, is highly unlikely any time soon, as a large majority of Hungarians are supportive of continued EU membership, including supporters of both Fidesz and Jobbik.