VOLUME 3 |NUMBER 2 |2012 17
rnative
omania
by
Rev. Dr. Radu Petre Muresan
’
A
ccording to the 2002 census, 86.79%
of Romanians declared themselves to
be Orthodox Christians, which is quite
surprising given that Romania was for a
long time subject to forced secularization
under the communist regime.1 However,
sociological surveys reveal a discrepancy
between this apparent commitment to
orthodoxy on the one hand, and the beliefs
and practices that ought to be entailed by
it on the other. For instance, 96% (one of
the highest percentages in Europe) of the
Romanians interviewed during the European
Values Survey (EVS) declared that they
believe in God. However, only 37.3%
indicated a belief in the incarnate God—that
is, in the divine-human person of Lord Jesus
Christ, while 45.6% expressed a belief in a
life-giving spirit or a life force.2
Starting with these findings, we aim to
ascertain the focus of our contemporaries’
spiritual search. Over the past two decades,
an interest in the most diverse spiritual
alternatives has been manifest in Romania.
Numerous TV programs and certain
periodicals promote everything that
relates to magic the occult and occultism
esotericism healing techniques chakras
tarot star signs and paranormal
phenomena, including UFOs and aliens.
Romanian bookstores are flooded with such
literature, which sells very well. Our study
addresses some of these spiritual alternatives
and attempts to portray both their spread
throughout Romania and their manifestations
as their proponents have described them in
their own books, brochures, publications,
and official Romanian-language Web sites.
rnative
omania
by
Rev. Dr. Radu Petre Muresan
’
A
ccording to the 2002 census, 86.79%
of Romanians declared themselves to
be Orthodox Christians, which is quite
surprising given that Romania was for a
long time subject to forced secularization
under the communist regime.1 However,
sociological surveys reveal a discrepancy
between this apparent commitment to
orthodoxy on the one hand, and the beliefs
and practices that ought to be entailed by
it on the other. For instance, 96% (one of
the highest percentages in Europe) of the
Romanians interviewed during the European
Values Survey (EVS) declared that they
believe in God. However, only 37.3%
indicated a belief in the incarnate God—that
is, in the divine-human person of Lord Jesus
Christ, while 45.6% expressed a belief in a
life-giving spirit or a life force.2
Starting with these findings, we aim to
ascertain the focus of our contemporaries’
spiritual search. Over the past two decades,
an interest in the most diverse spiritual
alternatives has been manifest in Romania.
Numerous TV programs and certain
periodicals promote everything that
relates to magic the occult and occultism
esotericism healing techniques chakras
tarot star signs and paranormal
phenomena, including UFOs and aliens.
Romanian bookstores are flooded with such
literature, which sells very well. Our study
addresses some of these spiritual alternatives
and attempts to portray both their spread
throughout Romania and their manifestations
as their proponents have described them in
their own books, brochures, publications,
and official Romanian-language Web sites.
