Secularism and the Church: A Case Study on the Church in Romania

Abstract

Today's society is an increasingly secular society. Secularisation implies the eradication of the religious dimension at both individual and social levels. Secularism, however, does not remain an abstract philosophical concept, but one which permeates the entire society. Society is not a morally abstract entity, therefore the conflict between secularism and the Church is inevitable. In this paper we will examine not only how this trend is seen in relation to the Christian Church in general, but also how this relationship takes place in the context of the Christian Church in Romania. Although most of the Romanian society is Orthodox, alongside other Christian churches recognized by the state from (at least nominally) a Christian society. The Romanian Christian Church covers almost the entire Romanian society (the percentage of people outside the Christian sphere is less than 1% of the country’s population). In this context, the present research will focus primarily on how, historically speaking, secularization has generally occurred in Western society but also in Romanian society. Secularism is creeping subtly, gradually, and aggressively into Romanian society. Given that secularism is in essence about the removal of God from society and the dissolution of morality, secularism is implicitly one of the greatest challenges of the last three decades for the Romanian Church. In this context it should be stressed that the Christian Church in Romania has often lost ground in this war. Since the Church is the entity meant to provide the moral fibre of society, the war with secularism must be taken into consideration.