Calvin Synod Herald, 2004 (105. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2004-03-01 / 3-4. szám
8 TRAC - Romania Visit - December 2003 Update from Rev. Woudenberg CALVIN SYNOD HERALD The delegates to Romania arrived safely, but late. Due to a fog in Cluj, they had to fly to Bela Mara on the Ukrainian border, and take a bus into Cluj, arriving at 1:00 AM instead of 5:30 PM. The Romania visitors spent a day in Bogata, attending their church service in the morning, having dinner with the Rev. Molnár family, and visiting the orphanage in the afternoon. That Saturday and the following Monday, they went out to give assistance to some of the poor families of students in the Válaszút school, meeting some unbelievable living conditions. At one point they had to walk a half mile through deep mud to get to the home. Afterward they visited the kindergarten at Válaszút and the farmer for whom they built the cattle shed. That Túesday, they visited a new Christian school, which was being built in Felor and evaluated the situation there. All told, they all had an amazing experience, with stories that will be difficult to relate. Remember them in your prayers. Update from Group in Romania At the time of this writing, we have distributed half of the gifts for the children at the school. We went to the Seminary one morning for their 10-year celebration. John gave a short speech, telling why we are here, and to express our concern for them. In the afternoon we will be visiting some of the people in Noszoly and Szentegyed. We have some sad news about Andrew (the boy with cerebral palsy), he passed away about two months ago. We are going to talk to his mother later, so will find out how he died. John and Claim Dale and Laura Bob and Karren Demonstration against attack on Christians Budapest: On Sunday, January 11,2004 about ten-thousand people braved the cold and gathered in front of “Tilos rádió” one of the publicly funded radio stations in Budapest in order to protest against the radio’s repeated attacks on Christians and against the refusal of the national TV and radio authority to sanction the radio. The demonstration was organized by several civic associations. Over the last years, Christians in Hungary have become painfully aware of a growing attack on Christian symbols and values. This disturbing trend has culminated in three radio programmes diffused by the publicly funded “Tilos rádió” on 9, 19 and 24 December 2003. At the first occasion the radio proposed that the crosses set up for the Advent season be used as firewood or as advertizing poles. On 19 December, amidst obscene words, Christ was called a “bastard”. On Christmas eve, in another obscene discussion, one of the anchormen said that he would like to exterminate all Christians. During the following days, unknown persons spilled paint over crucifixes and attached indecent insciptions to them. Whereas several Church-partyand NGO leaders raised their voice against this creation of hatred, the public authority for radio and television was unable to agree to any sanction against “Tilos rádió”. Angered by the growing freedom of publicly funded media to attack Christians and to use obscene language, the demonstrators demanded the immediate withdrawal of “Tilos rádió’s” license. They also called for responsible journalism instead of provocation and creation of hatred, for value-oriented radio and TV stations, and asked for the promulgation of legislation against obscenity in publicly funded media. The demonstration indicated that the large majority of the population is fed up with the attack on Christian values and symbols, with the obscenity and immorality transmitted by the media and the impact of all these on the education of children. It was also an expression of the population’s anger at the silence of the government and at the complicity of the TV and radio authority, which, after two session on the subject, was unable to sanction the radio. The World Federation of Hungarians as one of the participating organizations Article and photographs submitted by Rev. Gabor Nitsch
