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Changes (2015)

The evangelical or neo-Protestant denominations (Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-Day Adventists and Evangelical Christians) are becoming more and more present in Romanian religious life.

People belonging to small religious groups have the opportunity of either practicing individually or within the religious associations founded on the Law on juridical entities (art. 40, Act on religious freedom and general regime of religious denominations). The same is true for the Old Rite Orthodox, the Bahaï, the Mormons and so on. These religious denominations did not have the right to legal existence during the communist dictatorship.

In 2003, by Order of the Minister of Culture and Religions, the Jehovah’s Witnesses obtained the right to be registered as an officially recognised religion in Romania. All of the religions mentioned above, and their followers, have the same rights and freedoms in Romania as the majority religion, the Romanian Orthodox Church.
New religious movements have reached Romania, especially since 1990, when the new political conditions permitted the free manifestation of religious opinions. For the time being, their numbers are relatively low and their demonstration remains marginal. Even so, the population has shown some interest in these new forms of religiosity. This interest can be explained in particular by the great wave of religious enthusiasm that was expressed in 1989 after 45 years of dictatorship.

Among these religious movements, there are Evangelical Christian-like movements: “The Family”, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of Christ, different Pentecostal groups, but also orient-inspired movements including Zen, Sahaja Yoga, Haré Krishna, Bahaï, Ananda Marga and so forth. The mystic esoteric syncretistic movements also occupy a part of the religious landscape in Romania; they include New Age, Scientology, New Acropolis, the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky Centre, the Grail Movement and Anthroposophy.

For further information see: Olivier Gillet, "The religious situation in Romania", 27 September 2015.

D 13 August 2015    ALaurenţiu Tănase AManuela Gheorghe APetrisor Ghidu

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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