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times to do more recordings in theAWR studio. As programs were produced,AWR started airing them oncea week on an FM station in Nepal nearthe Tibetan border.Nurpu’s trips require considerableperseverance: a long walk from hishillside home to a larger town, a busride, at least a full‐day’s walk to theNepali border, and another long busride to Kathmandu. The expedition,one way, can take between three andsix days. Even at home Nurpu’s life isnot easy. Although his small housedoes have electricity and he is able touse the laptop computer provided byAWR, to access e-mail he must hikedown the mountainside to a lowervillage to visit an Internet café. Hisdays are very full as he raises someanimals and food for his family andalso works as a Gospel Outreach pioneer.“Please pray for Nurpu as he continuesthe hard work of producingprograms for his people,” Chow says,“that he may be encouraged in thisministry, which is in its infancy.”—Shelley Nolan Freesland, AdventistWorld RadioAdventist Church inHungary Must Reregister■■Under controversial legislationrecently enacted, the Seventh-dayAdventist Church in Hungary isone of 344 Christian churches andother faith groups that have lost theirlegal status and must apply to theHungarian Parliament for registration.Only 14 religious organizationshave retained their previous statusunder the new law, which humanrights advocates around the worldhave decried as “draconian” and“oppressive.”REGISTRATION NOW REQUIRED:Tamás Ócsai is president of theAdventist Church in Hungary.TED file photoTamás Ócsai, president of theAdventist Church in Hungary, hasexpressed his dismay that, in spite ofprevious assurances by governmentleaders, the church must now undertakethe considerable task of applyingto parliament for renewal of its registration.“We’re currently reviewing thismatter with our church members,legal experts, the Trans-EuropeanDivision, and the General Conference,and we intend to make a decision inSeptember regarding the best way tomove forward,” Ócsai said.“The Seventh-day AdventistChurch in Hungary meets all the criteriafor reregistration under the newlaw,” he said. “We ask for the prayersof our brothers and sisters around theworld as we face this challenge.”According to Raafat Kamal, directorof the Public Affairs and ReligiousLiberty (PARL) Department for theAdventist Church’s Trans-EuropeanDivision, the legislation that waspassed by the Hungarian Parliamentduring the early-morning hours ofJuly 11 was very different from theversion shown to faith groups duringconsultations in May and June thisyear.“The process of applying for registrationhas now become politicized,”Kamal said. “The outcome will bedependent on the political climate atany given time, and could expose religiousminorities to unchecked discrimination.”John Graz, PARL director for theAdventist world church, says the newlaw has seriously compromised Hungary’sstanding as a country thatrespects and protects basic humanrights.“This law is inconsistent withboth European values and with internationalcovenants protecting religiousfreedom,” Graz said. “Werespectfully urge Hungary’s lawmakersto consider the message this lawsends to the international community,and to take steps to protect itsreligious minorities.”The legislation, called the “Law onthe Right to Freedom of Conscienceand Religion, and on Churches, Religions,and Religious Communities,”requires religious groups that are notone of the 14 “approved” religiousgroups to undergo a process of applyingfor legal status. The new law alsonarrows the legal definition of “religiousactivities” and imposes a numberof stringent conditions that mustbe met before an organization isgranted the right to refer to itself as a“church.” The law comes into force onJanuary 1, 2012.The Adventist Church in thiscentral European country has morethan 100 congregations and some5,000 members. Since Communistrule in Hungary ended in 1989, interestin religion has grown, with some55 percent of the population nowidentifying themselves as RomanCatholic.—reported by Bettina Krause, IRLA,with Adventist News NetworkOctober 2011 | Adventist World 5