If all you listen to is network news, you might be inclined to believe that President Trump’s call for a heightened vetting of those seeking to emigrate from predominantly Muslim countries is completely inconsistent with immigration policies of other countries, and that it is absolutely beyond the pale. Nothing could be further from truth.
In fact, Hungary, not exactly known for aggressive or unreasonable policies, has decided that the persecution of Christians has become so pervasive that steps must be taken to protect them – even before helping Muslims who are fleeing their own countries.
Hungary has opened the world’s first governmental office to specifically address the persecution of Christians in its own borders, the rest of Europe and the Middle East.
“Today, Christianity has become the most persecuted religion, where out of five people killed [for] religious reasons, four of them are Christians,” said Zoltan Balog, Hungary’s Minister for Human Resources. “In 81 countries around the world, Christians are persecuted, and 200 million Christians live in areas where they are discriminated against. Millions of Christian lives are threatened by followers of radical religious ideologies.”
Hungary’s Prime Minister, Victor Orban, also did not endear himself to Muslims when he said that Europe should focus on helping Christians before helping millions of Muslims coming into Europe. “If we really want to help, we should help where the real problem is. We should first help the Christian people before Islamic people,” Orban said.
The numbers support his concerns. In Iraq, the number of Christians before the 2003 war was estimated at more than one million. Today, there are less than 300,000. Most of those who fled were persecuted Christians who were driven out of Iraq’s Nineveh Plains.
In Syria, it’s no different. Since their civil war began about five years ago, Christians have been fleeing as an Islamic ideology has taken root.
Hungary, however, went a step further.
In 2015, Germany announced an open door policy on immigration. Since then, almost 2 million immigrants have entered the country, many coming from the Middle East along the “Balkan route.” That route is essentially the southern border of Hungary and the northern territories of Serbia and Croatia.
So, Hungary built a fence on their southern border.
Eduard von Habsburg, the Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See, said, "Somehow the idea of defending Christians has acquired a bad taste in Europe, as if it means excluding other people.”
Prime Minister Orban believes that Europe is divided between an “EU elite” and those, like him, who want to hold on to Europe’s Christian roots. Read this statement by Orban, and think about it.
“They [the “elite”] know that Muslims will never vote for a party with Christian roots, so with the huge volume of Muslims, the conservative parties will be crowded out of power.”
Can that happen in the US? Sure it can.
