Hungarian Evangelicals Thank God for Viktor Orbán Victory

Szófia Boros voted for Victor Orbán. The young evangelical mother of two has her misgivings about the man who has been accused of undermining democracy—curtailing press freedom, undercutting the independent judiciary, and changing election rules to give an advantage to his political party, Fidesz.

But in the end, it was pretty simple to support him for reelection on April 3.

“Evangelical Christians support the majority of Orbán’s policies and positions, even if we don’t really admire the way he goes about his politics,” she said. “I voted for him because he is a conservative Christian standing up against a liberal Europe.”

Evangelicals aren’t a big or politically organized voting bloc in Hungary. Only a few evangelical groups are established enough to achieve recognition from the national government, including the Baptist Union, the Hungarian Methodist Church, the Hungarian Pentecostal Church, the Church of the Nazarene, and the charismatic Faith Church, whose pastor endorsedOrbán during a Sunday service.

About half the people in the country consider themselves Catholic, a quarter has no religious affiliation, and 16 percent—including Orbán—identify with the Reformed Church in Hungary, which is part of the mainline World Council of Churches and affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Eighty percent of the country identifies as Christian, but only about 15 percent of Hungarians attend church on a weekly basis.

But a lot of Hungarians, it turns out, feel like Boros. They wanted a conservative Christian prime minister committed to defending what they see as a Christian culture and its Christian values.

How to vote like a Christian

On Nov. 8 you will sin. I guarantee it. Especially if you’re planning on voting, or already have voted, there’s a 100% chance of sin being involved.

As human beings, created by God, we are called to participate in the political system of our community. This is part of the “cultural imperative” given to us in Genesis 1:28. We are called to live in, co-create, and engage our community — at the international, national, regional, state, local, and familial level. Sometimes, we are called to make tough decisions that affect the politics of our community.

Such as: does the toilet paper go up and over or down and under? Those of you who navigate the politics of a household know this is a political decision, one that has ramifications far into the future.

I say this not to make light of political decisions — like voting — but to call to our attention the necessity to hold these political deliberations in proper perspective and to diagnose them for what they are in light of God’s reign over all things.

Those with faith in God have been wrestling with the politics of living together in a fallen world since, well, the world fell into sin. Throughout human history God-fearing individuals and communities sought to know God’s will for their nation, their empire, their city, their family. At times, Jesus followers and God’s chosen leaders made wonderful decisions that led to breakthroughs in liberty, freedom, and justice. Other times, not so much. Still other times, they sinned gravely and were on the wrong side of justice, freedom, and liberation.

When we head to the voting booth on November 8 or send in our ballot by mail, we will enter into this long tradition of deciding.

Before you do, know this...