A national church in disguise
The Romanian Orthodox Church and the political arena
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
During the communist era, the relationship between church and state was characterised by collaboration and conformism. After the regime collapsed, the church leaders pursued a “policy of forgetting”. They assigned almost no importance to processing what had happened in the past. According to its constitution, Romania is a secular, confessionally neutral state. 86 percent of the population is Orthodox. In effect, politicians implicitly grant the Romanian Orthodox Church the status of a national church. However, it has not succeeded in asserting its position with regard to socio-ethical issues such as abortion or equal rights for homosexuals.
(Osteuropa 6-8/2019, pp. 231–242)