European Court of Human Rights rules against Hungarian church registration law

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Roger Kiska regarding a decision Tuesday by the European Court of Human Rights that found that Hungary’s church registration law is inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights. ADF was co-counsel in Egyhaz v. Hungary, in which the court determined that the law has no objective ground for treating churches that don’t register with the government differently from churches that do:

“Governments should not play favourites when recognizing churches. A Council of Europe member state cannot show such favouritism nor can a country discriminate against other churches and ministries with which it may disagree. Europe’s highest human rights court upheld that very principle in this decision, which makes it a historic victory not just for Christians in Hungary, but for all Europeans.”

• ADF brief: Egyhaz v. Hungary
• ECHR press release: Egyhaz v. Hungary
• Pronunciation guide: Kiska (KISH’-kuh)