ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to summarize the most significant tendencies of the last few decades concerning churches and religions at both macro and micro levels of Hungarian society, and to look for a possible theoretical explanation for the changes. Christian symbolism and the reference to the thousand years of Christian tradition in Hungary played an important political role. About two-thirds of the Hungarian population considered themselves as belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, slightly more than one fifth to the Reformed or Calvinist Church, 4 per cent to the Lutheran Church, and less than 3 per cent to any other religious denomination. Secularization, as an individual reflection of the separation of religion from other spheres of life, is operationalized in this chapter by opinions concerning religious and church influence on politics, science and education. Individualization of religiosity can be indicated by religiosity in one's own way and acceptance of certain non-Christian ideas as well as individual ways of religious practice.
