‘There aren’t many countries willing to go against the anti-Christians,’ wrote Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary in the preface. He stated: Europe should wake up and realise that the cries of the persecuted are directed to us because what is happening thousands of miles away from us will knock on our door tomorrow and put our very lives at risk.

At the first part of the online premiere on the 31st of March, Tristan Azbej State Secretary for the Aid
of Persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps Program, Miklós Szántó, director of the Alapjogokért
Centre and Ágoston Sámuel Mráz, CEO of the Nézőpont Institute held a roundtable discussion.
Tristan Azbej highlighted that: “We are in the middle of a civilisational war. Christianity is being
attacked in many ways and in many forms. From the South and from the East, this attack is in the
form of aggressive persecution, and there is an anti-Christian mentality coming from the West.”

The state secretary said that mitigating the aggressive Christian persecution is easier. However, he
pointed out that we are not doing too well on that front because Christians are discriminated against
in more than 80 countries, sometimes even at the level of genocide. He noted that to handle a
humanitarian crisis, we must have tools prepared and at the ready.

“We not only have to deal with the matter, that they are persecuting Christians in one part of the world, but that in the additional places others try to deny or trivialise this fact,” the state secretary said.

In the second part of the discussion, Tristan Azbej, Mar Abrisz Juhana, Bishop of Erbil, Matthew
Hassan Kukah, Bishop of the Nigerian Sokoto Diocese, Jacquline Isaac, the Roads for Success Vice-
President and Ewelina U. Ochab, co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response talked about the
situation of Christians in the Middle East and Africa. They discussed the reasons that even though there are daily atrocities, the global media turns a blind eye to these acts.

During the conversation, the reporter asked the five participants about the situation of
Christians in Africa, especially in Nigeria, and in the Middle East, and about the responsibility
and activity of the western world.

Mar Abris Juhana said that, recently, in Iraq, Christians are not only killed physically, but morally.
They are deprived of their basic rights and discriminated against in society.

Jacqueline Isaac added that in the UK and the U.S., the government declared and admitted the
presence of Christian persecution, but they do not take much further action. She praised the
work of the Hungary Helps Program, which is a pioneer in fighting for Christian rights in the
Middle East and Africa.

Ewelina U. Ochab agreed with Jacqueline Isaac and added that the western world must admit
Christian persecution as a phenomenon, and the atrocities against Christians cannot be handled
as independent single cases.

Asked about the response of the European Union to Christian persecution, Tristan Azbej
answered that the EU chose to be ignorant and blind towards Christian persecution. The EU
wants to preserve its independence towards religions, but it should not be indifferent to the
suffering of millions of people.

About the role of the western world in the fight against human genocide, the two women
agreed that there is a huge gap between the promises and the actions taken. According to
Ewelina U. Ochab, the UK, and other countries should monitor and analyse atrocities to prevent
genocide.

Mar Abris Juhana added that the Hungarian government was the first that came to help the Christians in the Middle East. The Hungarian government was the only channel to make their voice be heard by the western Christian world.  Christians in countries with a Muslim majority are handled as second class citizens. Some laws also discriminate against non-Muslim citizens.

One of the book’s authors, Ferenc Petruska, head of the department at the University of Public Service, said the study is from four main components. One chapter discusses Christian persecution
from the viewpoint of security policy, but other parts deal with the historical and legal aspects.
The last chapter develops the topic from experts of different fields and includes their viewpoints on
Christian persecution.

Father Lóránd Ujházi, researcher and professor in the University of Public Service and main editor of
the report previously told our portal that there are also positive things at work that include the
successes of not only the Hungarian government aid but also other institutions and churches that
provided assistance.