As if all the tension surrounding the new Hungarian Constitution was not enough, now the churches are playing their part to increase the xenophobia in Slovakia.
The Calvinist Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia is enraged after almost three quarters of its members joined the church in Hungary as they are of Hungarian ethnicity, reports Pravda daily. Only around 28,000 of its 110,000 members are of Slovak ethnicity, and the rest have answered the call of the Calvinist Reformed Church in Hungary to join their ranks instead.
The Hungarian church wants to unite all ethnic Hungarians in the former Kingdom of Hungary, which encompasses a large part of south Slovakia. The church even refers to how the Treaty of Trianon split up Hungarian believers in the Carpathian basin.
The Slovak Calvanists have said that ethnicity should not play a role in the church and have called for a meeting with culture minister, possibly over fears of losing their EUR 2 million state subsidy.