True religion of the Hungarians?

[Szegedist]

This topic is mainly for Hungarians or for people who know our history.
Catholicism
Hungary was founded as a Western oriented Catholic state by Szent István. It has played a large role in the history of our nation.
Today, Catholics form the majority of the Christians.

Catholicism has Hapsburg connotations, and was at times the religion of our Western oppressors.

Protestantism

Much of the population of the Kingdom of Hungary adopted Protestantism during the 16th century. After the 1526 Battle of Mohács, the Hungarian people were disillusioned by the ability of the government to protect them and turned to the faith they felt would infuse them with the strength necessary to resist the invader.

They found this in the teaching of the Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther. The spread of Protestantism in the country was aided by its large ethnic German minority, which could understand and translate the writings of Martin Luther. While Lutheranism gained a foothold among the German- and Slovak-speaking populations, Calvinism became widely accepted among ethnic Hungarians.


In the more independent northwest the rulers and priests, protected now by the Habsburg Monarchy, which had taken the field to fight the Turks, defended the old Roman Catholic faith. They dragged the Protestants to prison and the stake wherever they could.


Protestants likely formed a majority of Hungary's population at the close of the 16th century, but Counter-Reformation efforts in the 17th century reconverted a majority of the kingdom to Roman Catholicism.A significant Protestant minority remained, most of it adhering to the Calvinist faith.



Also, many of the Hungarian freedom fighters, like Kossuth, Petőfi, were Protestant.

[finþaų]

I see that Tengrism is not an option.

[Szegedist]

I see that Tengrism is not an option.

It would be impossible to return to it, not much is known about the old faith, and it's simply not necessary. Hungary has been a Christian state for the last 1000 years, that is our religion now.

But various aspects (the important ones) of the old religion have remained, and I would say there is generally a respect for our pagan forefathers, like Árpád,

[evon]

Dont know much about Hungarian religious history, i dated a Hungarian mulatto and she was Christian, Catholic i think...

Also, i agree that revival of a dead religion is hard, also not really necessary if you ask me, especially in the modern age of multi-culturalism where one usually holds on to the strongest cultural history and not some distant memory..

[Vesuvian Sky]

Out of the two options I thought Hungarians were more Roman Catholic but in terms of true Magyar religion, well that would theoretically have been shamanistic and of the steppes. So I agree with Fin there.

[Onur]

Protestantism

Much of the population of the Kingdom of Hungary adopted Protestantism during the 16th century. After the 1526 Battle of Mohács, the Hungarian people were disillusioned by the ability of the government to protect them and turned to the faith they felt would infuse them with the strength necessary to resist the invader.

They found this in the teaching of the Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther. The spread of Protestantism in the country was aided by its large ethnic German minority, which could understand and translate the writings of Martin Luther. While Lutheranism gained a foothold among the German- and Slovak-speaking populations, Calvinism became widely accepted among ethnic Hungarians.


In the more independent northwest the rulers and priests, protected now by the Habsburg Monarchy, which had taken the field to fight the Turks, defended the old Roman Catholic faith. They dragged the Protestants to prison and the stake wherever they could.


Protestants likely formed a majority of Hungary's population at the close of the 16th century, but Counter-Reformation efforts in the 17th century reconverted a majority of the kingdom to Roman Catholicism.A significant Protestant minority remained, most of it adhering to the Calvinist faith
Turks had a role in the conversion of Hungarians to protestantism.

Hungarian people was always being abused by the Papacy and their catholic elite in Vienna. They were using Hungarian people as soldiers against the Ottoman forces, sending them to their death but also creating some kind of human shield at the gates of Vienna. Ottoman authorities wanted to free Hungarians from the Papacy`s domain and they directly supported and allowed Luther`s message to reach in there.

[Midori]

Both I think.

My mother's grandma was a Catholic originally, but later she converted to Jehovah Witness.

[Arrow Cross]

I would say (surprisingly) that Protestantism fits the less rigorous and more independent national soul of Hungary better than dogma-rich Catholicism (especially after the disaster that was Vatican II), but we should be well above denominational differences by now. Christianity is the true religion of Hungarians, be it from any of the mainline, traditional denominations that contributed to our culture, instead of leeching it off like many modern lunatic cults and sects.

[Szegedist]

I personally agree with Arrow Cross. The Catholic Church was not always friendly to us, and to them we were essentially a human shield for the West.

But nowadays, denominations do not matter anymore, however I would prefer if the number of Protestants did increase. But with Atheism on the rise, I am thankful for the denominations that do exist, although a number of them claim to be Christian, they are not more Christian than Rabbi Slomó Köves.

[RussiaPrussia]

Turks had a role in the conversion of Hungarians to protestantism.

Hungarian people was always being abused by the Papacy and their catholic elite in Vienna. They were using Hungarian people as soldiers against the Ottoman forces, sending them to their death but also creating some kind of human shield at the gates of Vienna. Ottoman authorities wanted to free Hungarians from the Papacy`s domain and they directly supported and allowed Luther`s message to reach in there.

like you did with greeks and balkans and still do to kurdish they all have or had turkish freedom