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7 - Constitutional Identity as a Political Instrument

New Fundamental Law in Hungary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

Mariëtta D. C. van der Tol
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

This chapter analyses constitutional intolerance on the basis of the Hungarian Church Law of 2011, which deregistered hundreds of religious organisations, attached special conditions to re-registration, and privileged a number of politically favoured religious organisations in return for their political legitimation and support. These micro-legal actions are analysed within the context of the notion of the “System of National Cooperation” and “constitutional identity”. Constitutional intolerance in Hungary appears to stem from a traditionalist commitment to protect traditional values: on the one hand, by strengthening the position of the main Hungarian churches, and on the other hand, by championing anti-liberal policies on gender and sexuality, including the prohibition from exposing minors to “gay propaganda”. But the varnish of Christianity is relatively thin: Hungarian society is thoroughly secularised with low numbers of church attendance, with language and ethnicity taking precedence over religion in their importance to national identity.

Type
Chapter
Information
Constitutional Intolerance
The Fashioning of the Other in Europe's Constitutional Repertoires
, pp. 104 - 126
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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