Romania: New Religious Legislation Debated
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Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:15:33 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Romania: New Religious Legislation Debated
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
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Romania: New Religious Legislation Debated
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Section "Religious Intolerance and Discrimination"
March 1, 1999
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ROMANIA
ROMANIA'S RELIGION LAW - WRESTLING WITH THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
by Willy Fautr�
Compass (19.02.1999)/HRWF (01.03.1999) Website http://www.hrwf.net -
Protestant denominations in Romania are arm-wrestling with the
powerful Romanian Orthodox Church over the preparation of draft
religious legislation. Protestants want to defend their own rights
while limiting what they see as excessive claims of the Orthodox
Church.
For several years, a new religion bill meant to replace the current
legislation inherited from the communist period has been pending and
the state has not shown any political will to accelerate the process.
The government has involved the recognized religions in the debate
about the amendments, but seems unable to take a stand or to make a
synthesis of the proposals. The new bill comprises 10 chapters and 78
articles.
The general strategy of the Orthodox Church includes gaining back its
status of national church, enjoying a maximum of state privileges and
limiting the activities and the material advantages of minority
religions.
The Union of the Christian Baptist Churches of Romania (UBCBR) is
suspicious about the second paragraph of Article 5 that guarantees
that no state or government institution will carry out or support
atheistic propaganda programs. The UBCBR has proposed adding that no
official institution will be allowed to facilitate or to support any
propaganda activity to the benefit of any religion or to the detriment
of another faith.
The UBCBR has also suggested adding at the end of Article 7 that no
one can hinder or disturb another's right to profess or practice a
legally recognized religion. It has also asked for inclusion of a
sentence making it a criminal offense to interfere in a religious
service or to discriminate based on religious beliefs.
The UBCBR raises strong objections when the Romanian Orthodox Church
refers to its historical role of majority church and claims its
position as the national church, which it enjoyed in pre-communist
days. According to Article 4 of the draft law, all religions are
equal. Restoring such a status would mean that all the other faiths
would be considered non-national and foreign. Anxious to strengthen
the guarantees enshrined in Article 40, "The religious denominations
are autonomous and equal to each other," the UBCBR has asked to add
"and before the law."
The Orthodox Church believes that the Roman, Greek and Armenian
Catholic Churches should not be recognized separately. The bill lists
14 recognized religions instead of 16 in the existing legislation.
The Orthodox Church also insists on including anti-proselytism
provisions in the bill, allegedly to protect its flock from being
swayed by other denominations. The Orthodox Church also claims greater
access to the mass media.
The chapter devoted to education provides that "each religion is free
to set its own education system and curriculum according to its own
standards and to the legal provisions." The Orthodox Church, which is
not running confessional schools, does not want the state to finance
educational institutions created by religious communities. The
Catholic, Reformed, Unitarian, Evangelical and Lutheran churches claim
state financing on the same footing as public schools. The position of
the Orthodox Church is mainly motivated by the fear of proselytism
through the educational system. The same churches also ask for
religious charities, health institutions and homes for elderly people
to be financed by the state in the same way as similar public
institutions.
When a new denomination applies for registration, it must have at
least as many members as the least numerous religious community
already registered, the bill says. In this regard, the Reformed Church
has proposed the creation of an advisory council "including
representatives of recognized religions." Its task would be to analyze
the requests and to issue an admissibility recommendation.
The bill also says that only Romanian citizens who reside in the
country can be religious leaders and church staff members. This
provision has faced strong opposition. The Orthodox Serb Vicariate of
Timisoara has proposed to erase the word "only." The Unitarian Church,
the Evangelical Church, the Reformed Church and the Roman Catholic
Church have backed a common amendment providing that all the religious
denominations may invite religious ministers from abroad.
State Secretary for Religious Affairs, Dr. Gheorghe F. Angelescu, is
also concerned about the cult issue. From December 7 to 12, he visited
Belgian Minister of Justice Tony Van Parys and discussed the need to
safeguard religious traditional values and collected information about
the Belgian policy on cults.
It is not known when the current legislation will be replaced. "There
is no sign of a serious intention of the government and the parliament
to vote a new legislation," Adrian Bocaneanu, the leader of the
Romanian Seventh-day Adventists, told Compass.
The reason for freezing the new religious legislation is that "new
parliamentary elections might take place earlier than expected and
nobody seems to be willing to take the risk for discussing a law with
a high potential for creating conflicts," Bocaneanu said.
_______________________________________
Greek Helsinki Monitor &
Minority Rights Group - Greece
P.O. Box 51393
GR-14510 Kifisia
Greece
Tel. +30-1-620.01.20
Fax +30-1-807.57.67
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr
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