Religion in Romania
[3] 86.53% of the country's stable population identified as part of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the 2011 census (see also: History of Christianity in Romania).
[4] Romania also has a small but historically significant Muslim minority of around 44,000 people, concentrated in Northern Dobruja, who are mostly of Crimean Tatar and Turkish ethnicity.
The 2011 census numbers are based on a stable population of 20,121,641 people and exclude a portion of about 6% due to unavailable data.
On the other hand, according to data published in the 2016 Annuario Pontificio, the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church had 504,280 members, 8 bishops, 1,225 parishes, some 835 diocesan priests and 235 seminarians of its own rite at the end of 2012.
The Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania is a German-speaking denomination with some congregations holding bilingual services.
[16] Evangelicals (or sometimes called "neo-Protestants" in Romania) are mostly identified with the Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Pentecostals (both Apostolic and Assemblies) or members of various other independent churches.
Not to be confused with any of the above, the Evangelical Church of Romania (0.08%), is an indigenous Eastern Protestant denomination with some similarities to the Plymouth Brethren.
[20][21] As for the main group, in 2020, the number of Jehovah's Witnesses was 39,328 active publishers, united in 535 congregations; 74,363 people attended annual celebration of Lord's Evening Meal in 2020.
[23][24] Since the end of World War II, thousands of Nepali, Bangladeshi and Indian immigrants have brought Hinduism with them.
The International Society of Krishna Consciousness operates nearly a dozen temples throughout the nation's largest cities, such as Bucharest, Brașov, Timișoara, Oradea, and others.
These temples organize large festivals with Hindu significance such as Ratha Yatra, Diwali and Durga Puja, and see thousands of attendees each year from various religions and people.
[25] The remaining Muslims live in cities like Bucharest, Brăila, Călărași, Galați, Giurgiu, Drobeta-Turnu Severin.
6% of the population of this county, are represented in the Parliament by the Democratic Union of Turkish-Muslim Tatars of Romania, founded on 29 December 1989.
[37] Neopagan groups have emerged in Romania over the latest decade, virtually all of them being ethno-pagan as in the other countries of European Union,[38] although still small in comparison to other movements such as Ősmagyar Vallás in Hungary.
The revived ethnic religion of the Romanians is called Zalmoxianism and is based on Thracian mythological sources, with prominence given to the figure of god Zalmoxis.
[4] In 2008, 19% of Romanians placed "Faith" among maximum four answers to the question "Among the following values, which one is most important in relation to your idea of happiness?".
[46] According to a study by the Soros Foundation, over three quarters of Romanians consider themselves religious people, in a greater amount from rural areas, from women, from elders and from those with low income.
The government also has programs for compensating religious organizations for property confiscated during World War II and during the rule of the Socialist Republic of Romania.
[54][55] During World War II, several hundred thousand Jews were killed by Romanian and German forces in Romania.
[56] Although Jews living in territories belonging to Romania prior to the beginning of the war largely avoided this fate, they nevertheless faced harsh antisemitic laws passed by the Antonescu government.
[56] During the Socialist era following World War II, the Romanian government exerted significant control over the Orthodox Church and closely monitored religious activity, as well as promoting atheism among the population.
[57] Dissident priests were censured, arrested, deported, and/or defrocked, but the Orthodox Church as a whole acquiesced to the government's demands and received support from it.
