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It is time for Europe to free itself from the shackles of political correctness, speak the truth, and face the facts about the violent persecution of Christians, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday. In a hard-hitting speech delivered at the opening of the first major conference ever held by a government in support of persecuted Christians, Orbán said that the “forced expulsion” of Christians from parts of the Middle East and Africa are “crimes” against the people and communities concerned that also “threaten our European values.”
“The world should understand that what is at stake today is nothing less than the future of the European way of life, and of our identity,” he told the delegates in Budapest. Over 300 participants from 30 countries, including Christian leaders and representatives from think tanks and charities, gathered for the Oct. 11-13 international consultation on Christian persecution — “Finding the Appropriate Answers to a Long Neglected Crisis.”
The Hungarian leader, who has been an outspoken defender of Christian values in Europe — and has suffered a backlash from the European Union and others as a result — said it is time to “liberate” the issue from the “shackles of political correctness and human rights incantations which conflate everything with everything else.”
Rather, he said, we are “duty bound” to use facts and “straight-forward language” in describing these events and to “identify the dangers that threaten us.” Four out of five persecuted people are Christians, Orbán noted, and the religion is the most persecuted in the world today, yet the international media gives it “little coverage.” Furthermore, he said the “greatest danger” is the “indifferent, apathetic silence of a Europe which denies its Christian roots.” The fate of what is happening in the Middle East should “bring home to Europe” what “may also happen to us” he said, at a time when European governments are pursuing an immigration policy that allows in “dangerous extremists” and will “utterly transform” its culture, ethnicity and Christian identity within a “few generations.” After centuries of fighting to defend the “whole of Christian Europe,” and having lived under atheistic Communist dictatorships for much of the 20th century, Orbán said it is a “cruel, absurd joke of fate” to be again living as members of a community “under siege.” But for all these reasons, he said Hungary wishes to be at the forefront of helping persecuted Christians, and referred to the watchman in the Book of Ezekiel to underline its responsibility: “If a watchman sees the enemy approaching and does not sound the alarm, the Lord will hold that watchman accountable for the deaths of those killed as a result of his inaction.”
“Europe is a Christian continent,” he said, “and this is how we want to keep it.”
Orbán highlighted the fact that Hungary, although only a “medium sized European state,” is a “stable country” and unlike many other countries, is therefore in a position to “speak up for persecuted Christians.” But he stressed it’s not just about talking but acting, and he drew attention to some of the initiatives it has taken, in particular being the only government to set up a ministry dedicated to helping persecuted Christians (the Deputy State Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians began work last year).
He gave an overview of its achievements so far, which include rebuilding Christian homes, funding scholarships, and resettling displaced Christians. He said he drew attention to these deeds not to “burnish our reputation” (he said the government avoids “doing good things out of calculation, as good deeds must come from the heart, and for the glory of God”) but rather to serve as an example to other countries in the hope they might do likewise.
“When we support the return of persecuted Christians to their homelands, the Hungarian people is fulfilling a mission,” Orbán said, noting that Hungary’s Constitution recognizes “the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood.”
“If we recognize this for ourselves, then we also recognize it for other nations,” he said. Hungarians, he added, want Christian communities returning to their homelands, becoming “forces for the preservation of their own countries, just as, for us, Hungarian Christianity is a force for preservation.”
He closed by urging Europe’s politicians “to cast aside politically correct modes of speech” and “human rights-induced caution” and instead “do everything within their power for persecuted Christians.” :NationalCatholicRegister
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