Budapest, Hungary - Excluding Scientology from the list of recognised churches was one of the key goals of amendments made by Fidesz to the church bill submitted by the Christian Democrats, news website Origo has reported.
Sources who know the details of the decision but who asked that their name be withheld said Speaker László Kövér initiated the changes at a meeting of the Fidesz executive prior to the vote in Parliament expressly to ensure that Scientology would not be granted church status.
The law, due to enter into force on January 1, recognises only 14 churches, but Parliament has the power to add other churches to that number.