[Grem] Orbán, Putin Pledge to Protect Christians

[Emoke Greschik]

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Viktor Orban, Vladimir Putin Pledge to Protect Christians *News:* World News
<https://www.churchmilitant.com/search/category/247/world-news>
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/vladimir-putin-viktor-orban-pledge-to-protect-christians?fbclid=IwAR3VqrLzs6yTUoVGdu333jPQLjkt56KzJXAkV8uZh-jsYebsATwFjQNOp-g

*While much of the Western world responds to persecution** of* *Christians*
in the Middle East *by dithering (at best*), *prominent Eastern
Europe politicians and members of the Trump administration are forcefully
speaking out and backing up words with actions. *

*This past October, the Hungarian government organized a conference of
high-ranking clergy and leading Christian figures from the Middle East, at
which Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó,
emphasized **that for the mainstream of Europe's contemporary political
establishment, "persecution of Christians is the last acceptable form of
discrim**ination" *— despite the fact that the numbers show Christianity to
be the most persecuted religion in the world, castigating such attitudes as
"supreme hypocrisy."
<https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/vladimir-putin-viktor-orban-pledge-to-protect-christians?fbclid=IwAR3VqrLzs6yTUoVGdu333jPQLjkt56KzJXAkV8uZh-jsYebsATwFjQNOp-g#>

He also argued that "the ideology-based export of [liberal] democracy" to
the Middle East has led to the instability at the root of the migrant
crisis which Europe is now facing and actually enabled radical Islamist
groups to gain power, leading to increased persecution of Christians.

*Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban both addressed the conference, which was held in conjunction
with a political summit between the two heads of government and at which
the condition of Middle Eastern Christians was a major topic of discussion.*


While Orban limited his remarks to a matter-of-fact declaration that
the conference
was being held to advise the politicians taking part in the summit, Putin
highlighted the gravity of the situation, stating that "although the Middle
East is the cradle of Christianity, the position of Christians
in the region is very difficult, with murder, violence and plunder" and
that "[t]his is an alarming development ... because our identity is based
on the Christian culture. ... It is hard to watch what is happening
to Christians in the Middle East."

*He added, "Russia will do everything to protect Christians. ... We must
help them restore and preserve their Holy Sites, preserve their
congregations." *
<https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/vladimir-putin-viktor-orban-pledge-to-protect-christians?fbclid=IwAR3VqrLzs6yTUoVGdu333jPQLjkt56KzJXAkV8uZh-jsYebsATwFjQNOp-g#>

Only a month later Orban spoke at the second International Conference on
Christian Persecution, emphasizing that "four out of five people persecuted
for their faith are Christians and some 245 million Christians around the
globe suffer extreme persecution" but that "Europe remains silent again and
again," while "European politicians seem paralyzed and unable to do
anything, insisting that it is all a matter of generic 'human rights.'"

He contrasted the latter attitude to his own country's constitution which
"states that *protection of Christianity is an obligation for the Hungarian
state.**" *

Perhaps his most forthright remark was his insistence that Christians can
be persecuted by "population exchange through mass migration [by members of
religions hostile to Christianity], stigmatization, mockery, and the muzzle
of political correctness."

And, in a telling indication of his own priorities, *he expressed the hope
that providing aid to persecuted Christians will help Europeans to recover
their own Christian faith.*

*The conference, organized by the Hungarian government's State Secretariat
for the Aid of Persecuted Christians (a rare example of a government
department devoted exclusively to the assistance of Christians), included
over 600 particip**ants from over 40 countries*. *Among those taking part
were Cdl. Gerhard Mueller, **Cdl. Peter Erdo (primate of Hungary and
archbishop of Budapest)**,* *Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox patria**rchs
and their representatives, bishops and papal nuncios resident in Middle
Eastern countries**, and influential Christian figures from around the
world *such as Viktor Hamm, vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association.
[image: Image] Joe Grogan, director of President Trump's Domestic Policy
Council

Another of those who took part was Joe Grogan, director of Donald Trump's
Domestic Policy Council, whose presence, like the letter written to the
conference by President Trump, is indicative of serious commitment rather
than of pro forma politics.

*At the insistence of the Trump administration, the U.S. Agency for
International Development created the Genocide and Persecution Response
Initiative which was modelled on the "Hungary Helps" program run by
the State Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians. *

Though the U.S. program is not officially focused on assisting Christians,
the regions and population groups on which it concentrates its efforts
assure that it largely works with Christians suffering from current
conditions in the Middle East and, like the agencies of the Hungarian
government, it bypasses the United Nations to assure greater control over
the way in which aid is distributed.

*Central to Hungarian and Russian strategy for the protection of Middle
Eastern Christians are efforts to create order and stability in the
latter's homelands, a policy that Cdl. Robert Sarah has endorsed in other
contexts and which, if successful, will, as the Hungarian and Russian
governments know, be beneficial to Europe as well as to the local
populations. *

The danger posed to Europe by the large scale migration of peoples hostile
to Christianity and Western civilization, or who would more broadly
reproduce within Europe the conditions that have caused the exodus in the first
place, is only one factor. Eastern European leaders have also stressed that
even if migration was limited to those who would make positive
contributions to their new countries, failure to correct conditions
elsewhere would leave many people living under oppression, while assuring a
population influx that could destabilize Europe through the impact of sheer
numbers.

*Recent events sponsored in whole or in part by the Hungarian government
have also called attention to an important economic factor related to
persecution of Middle Eastern Christians and to migration into Europe —
factors that may sway those uninterested in defending Christians *as a
matter of principle. European nations, and in particular Eastern European
nations, can gain much from international trade with stable Middle Eastern
nations. *Chaos **in* *the Middle East* *reduces **trade and its
benefits* *while
causing migration that can flood **the European job market.*
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