The Romanian Orthodox Church imposed its will into the text of the law. Being the majority church and having a privileged relation with the Romanian authorities, the Romanian Orthodox Church is criticized because of its way of dealing with religious freedom and with the use of influence in the political law.

After the anti-communist revolution in 1989, Romania gradually made its way into the free world, starting a slow-growing process to enter the political institution of democracy: NATO and EU. The process was slower than in most former communist countries because the communist regime in Romania was more powerful and its influence was only slow degrading.

In the religious environment, there was a enthusiastic growth in building churches, as the Romanians began to rediscover their religious roots. But the "wild capitalism" of the first years after the evolution, the economical and political instability, the high rate of unemployment and the feeling of insecurity were for some reasons to look for alternatives, especially in what regards their religion. This reality was exploited especially by the neo-protestant churches, who expanded their numbers.

The Romanian state had all the reasons to have a privileged relation with the Romanian Orthodox Church: it is the largest religious community in Romania (87%), it has a large influence inside the society and it has a respectable stature in the history of the country. On the other hand, the Romanian Orthodox Church used its influence on the authorities to reach its goals. Thus, it tried to impose an article in the Constitution stating that the Romanian Orthodox Church is the national church.

This situation delayed without any objective reason the issue of the religion law. Some attempts to reach a final form of the law were not put into practice because of the protests of international human rights organizations or because in some cases, the interests of certain cults were affected.

During last years, the law was disputed in a public debate, with many churches and NGO's stating their opinion about it. The law was passed last year in the Romanian Parliament and President Basescu signed it in December.

Media and freedom organization criticize the law, because its anti-democratic and anti-European character, exactly the same reasons why the Romanian Orthodox Church praise it.

In Romania, media was disappointed by the unusual character of the law: it states that every religious cult is supposed to wait a period of 12 years before it can apply for recognition. What is more, only a number of 18 churches can be recognized by the state. Also, the law states some restriction of defamation of religious symbols and restricts the recognition of a new cult.

The reactions after the law were diverse, but a large majority of them are against it and criticize the visible legerity of the way the law was passed. On the national scale, the law was rejected by the religious minorities, because they fear it could be used against them. On international level, the fiercest critique was that of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, who said this law is getting Romania back to the former communist regime.

Romania is only the second Orthodox country in the EU, after Greece, and the problem of religious freedom and the religion law is following the same pattern as the Greek counterparts.

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Comments (2)

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.